Glossary

This glossary aims to explain some of the words that we use frequently on our web site and databases including library and technical terms and acronyms.

Adware

Software that (usually secretly) installs on your computer which will try to feed you advertising and/or track your activity and send the information back to its originators. See also spyware.

Bestseller

Bestseller refers to a collection of popular books, CDs, DVDs, and videos which are charged for. See our Bestseller collection page for more information.

Browser

The software that you use to 'browse' the web. Widely used browsers include Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Safari & Netscape.

CD

Compact Disc.

CD-ROM

Compact Disc - Read Only Memory. A Compact Disc designed to be read by a computer.

CINCH

Stands for Community INformation CHristchurch - our database of local clubs, community organisations and courses. Search CINCH.

Citation

The term citation refers to the content of certain databases where only a short description of an article is available rather than the full text. The description will include information on the source of the article which you can ask us to locate for you.

Cookies

Cookies are small data files stored by web sites on your computer so that they can save and read information such as your log-in. See our guide to enabling cookies on your computer for more information.

Databases

Christchurch City Libraries owns and/or subscribes to a wide range of online resources that you can search for information sourced from newspapers, magazines, academic journals, encyclopedias and other reference books. Find them all listed in the Source

DVD

Digital Versatile Disc.

ESOL

English as a Second Language.

Fiction

Stories, novels or other works that present imaginary people, places and events.

Firewall

Software (or in some cases hardware) that you install to sit between your computer and the internet and check all incoming and outgoing traffic for security problems.

Full-text

Full-text refers to the content of certain databases where the entire text of the article (often with related images) is available rather than just a short citation.

Grey Literature

Material that is not commercially published such as technical reports, working papers, business documents, and conference proceedings.

Hackers

People who write software to try to get access to other people's computers.

Hardware

The physical components of a computer system.

Hold

Also referred to as a reserve or request. A copy will be held for you for a period of time when it becomes available (there may be a queue). See placing a hold for more information.

Instant Messaging (IM)

Instant messaging software allows people to have a real-time typed conversation across the internet. It is very popular but can require a lessened level of security on your computer.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

The company that you purchase your internet access from e.g. Xtra, Paradise etc.

ISBN

International Standard Book Number.

ISMN

International Standard Music Number.

ISSN

International Standard Serial Number.

Libretto

Words only, no music.

Macron

A macron is a diacritical mark used in the Māori language over certain vowels to indicate a longer sound.

Material Type

Catalogue term. Christchurch City Libraries holds many different types of items such as CDs, DVDs, magazines, photographs, manuscripts etc. These are referred to as different materials in the catalogue.

Miniature score

Like an orchestral score, but printed in miniature.

Non-Fiction

Non-fiction works contain information that is factual or real e.g. science, history etc.

Office applications

Office applications available on our public computers include the entire Open Office suite (Writer: a word processor, Calc: a spreadsheet, Impress: multimedia presentations, Draw: a drawing package, Base a database package, Math creates mathematical equations) and Microsoft Office Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Publisher. These are free to use and are availble on our Pay PCs and Free PCs in libraries which have the Pharos system.

OPAC

Acronym for Online Public Access Catalogue which replaced card catalogues in the late 1980s.

Orchestral score

What a conductor uses, with the part played by each instrument of the orchestra given in full.

PDF

Portable Document Format: a file format developed by Adobe that allows the transfer of information from any software programme in a standard format. For more information see the Adobe web site.

Pharos

A system for booking computers in our libraries and paying for services such as internet access, printing and photocopying.

Phishing

A type of internet scam which tries to convince you, usually through a spam email, to give someone your log-in details for your bank account. Emails may appear to come from a legitimate source such as your bank or PayPal, Ebay etc, but the web site that you are directed to, while possibly looking authentic, actually sends your details to a criminal who can then use them to access your account.

PIN

Personal Identification Number. Information about library PINs.

Plug-in

A piece of software that works with your browser to allow you to view or use certain types of files e.g. videos. More about plug-ins.

Podcasts

Podcasting is a specific form of download where the files are contained in an RSS feed. To get the file the user subscribes to the RSS feed with a special podcast reader which will download any new files as they are added to the feed. More about podcasts.

Public domain

A work in which copyright has expired or is not valid. Copyright Protection in New Zealand.

Reduction

Used for rehearsal of concertos, that is one instrument plus orchestra, for those who do not have a private orchestra to rehearse with. Consists of the soloist’s part, plus the orchestra’s part arranged, or “reduced”, for piano.

Reference or Reference Only

Items marked Reference in the catalogue are only available for viewing in libraries and may not be borrowed.

RSS

Really Simple Syndication: a way of providing content or summaries of web content in a simple format. More about RSS feeds.

See

In the catalogue this is usually a reference from an unpreferred term (author, title, subject, series) to a preferred one.

Sets of parts - for chamber music

Up to about eight separate performers, each requiring just that bit of the whole that they themselves will play. Usually consists of separate sheets of music, tucked into a folder.

Sets of parts - for orchestral or choral music

More than about nine performers, with groups of musicians playing or singing the same music as each other. Included with the set will be one orchestral score, for the conductor to use.

Sic

Indicates that the preceding mis-spelling is in the original text.

Software

A computer program.

Spam

Junk email, including advertising and phishing emails. The sheer volume of spam is the main issue.

Spyware

Software that (usually secretly) installs on your computer which tracks your activity and send the information back to its originators. See also adware.

Stack

Closed storage used for special materials and less often used items. Items can be requested from Stack by putting a hold on the item.

Standing order

A standing order is set up to automatically buy material certain authors or publishers produce.

Store and Store 2

Our stores are locations with no public access. They provide extra storage space for the library. You can place holds on most titles from this collection for borrowing. Reference only items can be brought in for viewing - please ask a librarian to arrange this for you.

Streaming

Streaming is a technology that allows you to listen to a audio file as if to a radio station (or watch a video), only over the internet. The music is sent to the listener's computer in a 'stream' but they cannot collect it i.e. there is no file left on their computer, so they have to listen to (or watch) it as it streams.

TIFF

Tagged Image File Format: an electronic graphics format often used for archival standard images.

Trojans

Software that (usually secretly) installs on your computer which allows access to your machine by the originator of the software (a hacker).
See also adware, spyware.

Tutor

A book, or nowadays often a book plus tape/CD/video, that teaches you how to play an instrument. May contain exercises, but generally not any “real” music to play.

USB

Universal Serial Bus. An external peripheral interface standard for communication between a computer and external peripherals such as keyboard, mouse, memory drives over low-cost cable using serial transmission.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator. Address of an internet item. All URLs consist of the protocol (e.g. http:// ftp:// https:// etc) and the address (e.g. www.ccc.govt.nz or christchurchcitylibraries.com).

vCard

A vCard is an 'electronic business card' - it's in a format that is widely used for contact information. If you open one on a computer with contacts handling software such as Microsoft Outlook it will open as a contact which you can then save to Outlook.

Vidcasts

Video content provided through a RSS news feed.

Viruses

Software that (usually secretly) installs on your computer which then replicates and sends copies of itself to other people's systems - often through your email. The software may include features such as spyware, trojans or may have distructive consequences for infected machines e.g. may destroy files etc.

Vocal score

Has all the parts for singers, plus an accompaniment for piano of a complete work. This will usually be an arrangement for piano of the music originally written for a complete orchestra.

Vocal selections

As above, but selected songs only, not the complete thing. Usually lacks all the twiddly linking bits that allow a complete performance to be put on. Big, money-making shows are usually published in this form only, so that pirate productions cannot be staged.