Database A collection of digital information organized for retrieval by a variety of means. Databases may contain bibliographic citations for books, periodicals and/or other information sources or they may contain the complete contents of the book, magazine, journal or other information resource. Descriptors (see also: Keywords, Subject headings) A word or phrase assigned by an author or an indexer to describe the subject content of an information resource in a database. Edition All of the copies of a book printed from the same setting of type, at one time or over a period of time, with no major changes, additions or revisions. Ephemeral Short lived or transitory material or information. Fair use of copyrighted material (see also: Copyright, Intellectual Property, Public Domain) A limited set of exemptions to U.S. Copyright Law, which allows use of copyrighted material, without prior permission of the copyright holder, by educators, students, and journalists. Factors to be considered in determining ‘Fair Use’ are the purpose and character of the use, the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. FirstSearch A subscription service that provides access to a number of databases from a single entrance point. FirstSearch databases include WorldCat that provides access to information about the library holdings of over 80,000 libraries worldwide. Full text The complete contents of an article or book. Government Documents Publications issued at government expense or by authority of a governmental body. Usually maintained as a separate collection within a library. Hits The results from a search of a database. The number of hits represents the number of items which met the criteria established by the search. Holdings Items owned by a library. Also used to refer to the specific issues of a magazine or journal held by a library. Index An alphabetical listing of names, places and subjects included in a printed work that gives the page(s) on which the item is mentioned. Usually found at the back of a book. Intellectual property (see also: Copyright, Fair Use, Public Domain) The expression of ideas defined as property and protected under copyright law. InterLibrary Loan/ILL (see also: OCLC) A program/service that allows a library to borrow material from another library for the borrowing library’s user. Each library sets its own lending and fee policies. Most Interlibrary Loans are handled using the OCLC Interlibrary Loan service. Internet (see also: World Wide Web) An electronic communications network of computer networks and organizational computer facilities around the world.