Volunteers @ the Library: S, T, and U

SELECTION POLICY - The policy adopted by the board for deciding which materials should be added to a library collection. The selection policy is part of the collection development policy.

SERIAL - Any publication (periodicals, newspapers, annuals, journals, transactions of societies, numbered monographic series, and all other publications in any medium) issued in successive parts and bearing numerical or chronological descriptions.

SERIES - A group of separately published works issued in succession by a single publisher, usually related in subject, each of which bears, in addition to its own title, a collective or series title which applies to the group as a whole.

SERVICE RESPONSE - What a library does for, or offers to, the public in an effort to meet specific community needs. Thirteen service responses are described in Planning for Results: A Public Library Transformation Process published by the American Library Association, 1998.

SHELF LIST - A kind of catalog or inventory of items as they appear on the library shelf.

SHELF READ - Physically checking the shelves to make certain the books are in the proper location, and reshelving books to their proper places.

SLA - Special Libraries Association. A professional association of librarians who work in special libraries such as businesses, hospitals, law offices.

SOFTWARE - The programs contained on disks that tell the computer what to do (calculate numbers, makes a mailing list, etc.).

SPECIAL INFORMATION NEEDS - General service needs inherent to a population group such as preschoolers, teenagers, or senior citizens. Libraries must keep the broad needs of any group in mind when designing services targeting a specific group. For example, preschoolers need short active programs in order to keep their attention. Senior citizens may need large print materials or outreach programs. Teenagers have a need for privacy and a sense of belonging to a peer group, and an aversion to being treated as children.

SPECIAL SERVICES FOR THE BLIND AND PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED – Special Services is the Regional Library Servicing the Blind & Physically Handicapped in West Virginia. Special Services is part of the National Library Services/Library of Congress network. Special Services assists patrons with large print, audio books in a specialized format, descriptive videos and Braille requests through a cooperating library.

STACKS - The area in which a series of book-cases or sections of shelving are arranged in rows or ranges and used for the storage of the library's collections.

STANDING ORDER - An order placed by a library with an agent or publisher to supply each succeeding issue, volume, or part of a serial or series as it is published, until further notice.

SUBJECT HEADING - A word or group of words indicating a subject under which all material dealing with the same theme is entered in a catalog, bibliography, or index, or is arranged in a file.

SUBJECT CATALOGING - The part of cataloging concerned with creating and assigning subject headings for books and documents.

TECHNICAL SERVICES OR PROCESSING - All the activities related to obtaining, organizing, and processing library items and maintaining them with repairs such as covering, labelling, etc.

TITLE PAGE - The page at the beginning of a book which states the title, author's name, edition, and imprint.

UNION LIST - A list of holdings for a given group of libraries of materials of a given type, in a certain field, or on a particular subject.

UNION CATALOG - Periodicals, books or other library materials owned by a number of libraries which combine their holdings in one catalog.

UNITED FOR LIBRARIES – Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations. A division of the American Library Association devoted to the concerns of library trustees, advocates for libraries, friends groups, and library foundations.

URL - Uniform Resource Locator, the unique address that identifies the specific location of a resource on the Internet.

US PATRIOT ACT – Enacted by Congress in 2001 this law amended over 15 statues and expanded the authority of the Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) and law enforcement to gain access to business records, medical records, educational records and library records, including stored electronic data and communications. It also expanded the laws governing wiretaps and “trap and trace” phone devices to Internet and electronic communications. These enhanced surveillance procedures pose the greatest challenge to privacy and confidentiality in the library.  See the FAQ document in Appendix B for more information.