Liz’s Library Jargon Glossary


Hello, Patrons! Ever start talking to one of us here at the library and get the sense that we’re actually speaking a different language? Well, here are some commonly used Librarian phrases and their meanings.

  1. Patron: (n) A person who uses the library. AKA: You! Other libraries also use the words “Customer” or “User.” We prefer “Patron” because without your support, or patronage, we wouldn’t have a Library to begin with.
  2. Processing: (v) The task of getting items ready to be checked out. This includes adding labels, bar-codes, and stamps to the materials and putting the record in the system.
  3. Polaris: (n) Our computer system. It houses all of our records for every item we circulate and all of our patrons. (No wonder we get stressed out when “Polaris” goes down!)
  4. ILL: Inter-Library-Loan; (v) the process of borrowing a book from a different library. We contact the other library, check it out (as if we were a patron), have it sent to us, add it temporarily to Polaris, then call the Patron who requested it. (n) An item that has been obtained from another library. Learn More.
  5. Weeding: (v) The process of removing books that are outdated, no longer circulate, or are in bad shape from the library shelves. No, we are not working outside. But just as a successful garden requires weeding, so does a successful library.

What other words or phrases have you heard us use at the Library?

Liz

-Liz Strauss

Teen Librarian

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