Library Information for International Students

| Library Terminology | Access to Online Resources | Reference Sources TOEFL | Foreign Language Collections | Off Campus Access |

Library Terminology

Multilingual Glossary of Library Terminology : designed for international students and scholars who come to use libraries in American universities and colleges for the first time. It consists of forty-seven (47) of the most commonly used terms in academic libraries. The Glossary is divided into two parts: the Language Table, which presents a list of the words in six languages, and the Definitions, which give explanations in English for each of the terms.

Glossary of Library and Web Terms : Library research terms explained, with definitions for terms such as periodical, serial, holdings, index, citation, call number, and Boolean operator.

Several of the Libraries' research databases provide access and assistance in languages other than English. These include:

EBSCOhost Espanol - Spanish Interface : access to MasterFILE Select (more than 750 journals covering general reference, business, health, education, general science, multicultural issues and much more), TOPICsearch (current events database that allows researchers to explore social, political and economic issues, scientific discoveries and other popular topics), and Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia.

For many of the EBSCOhost databases, you may choose to have an article automatically translated into Spanish, French, or German. This feature is available if the article is listed as HTML Full Text. At the top of the web page that displays the English HTML fulltext article, you can choose another language from the drop down box."Choose Language," and then click Translate. Databases with this feature include:

• Academic Search Elite
• Business Source Premier
• Health Source Academic
• MasterFile Select
• MAS Ultra
• Military & Government Collection
• Newspaper Source
• Professional Development Collection
• Regional Business News

¡Informe! (Revistas en Español) : "Created exclusively for Spanish-speaking users, this full-text electronic reference tool is the first system to provide indexing, images and full text of popular Hispanic magazines -- not just translations. Terms and thesaurus are based on the expressions Spanish-speakers commonly use, allowing users to easily navigate through the database without experiencing inaccurate search terms. ¡Informe! also features title annotations in both English and Spanish to help non-Spanish speaking staff to easily assist users. Provided free to the public by the New York State Library through NOVEL, the statewide virtual library.

MathSciNet : A choice of languages for all search pages and the MathSciNet home page is now offered for the convenience of users. This choice is offered in a pull down menu on each of the search pages and the home page. Languages offered are English, French, German, Chinese, and Spanish. This choice will change the appearance of the search screens, the home page, and the various error messages and "not found" messages.

CLASE : Citas Latinoamericanas en Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades. Produced by Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), since the mid 1970s, CLASE indexes documents published in Latin American and Caribbean journals specializing in the social sciences and humanities. Dates covered: 1975-present.

PERIÓDICA : Índice de Revistas Latinoamericanas en Ciencias. Produced by Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), since the mid 1970s, PERIÓDICA covers journals specializing in science and technology. Dates covered: 1978-present.

FirstSearch : Search interface and assistance available in Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese and Chinese (Simplified), by clicking on the appropriate link at the bottom of the FirstSearch web page.

• Art Abstracts : Leading publications in the world of the arts
• ArticleFirst : OCLC index of articles from the contents pages of journals
• ASTA, Applied Science and Technology Abstracts : international English-language periodicals in the applied sciences and technology
• BasicBIOSIS : Basic information about biology and other life sciences
• Books In Print : In-print, out-of-print, and forthcoming books, audios and videos, with optional reviews
• ChemAbsStudent : Abstracts and indexes of chemical journals and dissertations
• Consumer Index : Index of articles providing consumer information
• CWI : Contemporary Women's Issues (health and human rights)
• Dissertations Abstracts : Dissertations and theses from institutions in the North America and Europe
• ECO : An OCLC collection of scholarly journals
• EconLit : Journals, books, and working papers on economics
• ERIC : Journal articles and reports in education
• FactSearch : Facts and statistics on topics of current interest
• GEOBASE : Worldwide literature on geography, geology, and ecology
• GPO : U.S. government publications
• Humanities Abstracts : Abstracts covering diverse subject areas of the humanities
• Internet & PC Abstracts : Internet and personal computer use and product information
• Media Review Digest : Reviews of educational media and entertainment resources
• MEDLINE : All areas of medicine, including dentistry and nursing
• MLA : Literature, language, linguistics, folklore
• PAIS : Database chronicling global public policy and social issues
• PapersFirst : OCLC index of papers presented at conferences worldwide
• Proceedings : An OCLC index of worldwide conference proceedings
• Social Science Abstracts : Abstracts of articles on the social sciences
• Wilson Select Index : Citations and abstracts of articles in science, humanities, education and business
• World Almanac Funk & Wagnalls : New Encyclopedia and four almanacs
• WorldCat : OCLC catalog of books and other materials in libraries worldwide

Reference Sources for TOEFL

A basic collection of English Dictionaries and Thesauri, from Oxford Reference Online.

Another collection of English Dictionaries and Thesauri, reference dictionaries for Bilinguals, and a collection of slang, idiom and foreign word dictionaries, from xreferplus. MP3 files, to aid in pronunciation, are currently available for Dorland's Illustrated Medical Dictionary, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language and the Academic Press Dictionary of Science and Technology.

American Heritage^® Book of English Usage. 2000. With a detailed look at grammar, style, diction, word formation, gender, social groups and scientific forms, this valuable reference work is ideal for students, writers, academicians and anybody concerned about proper writing style.

The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. This most extensive handbook of the language ever published features over 6,500 descriptive and prescriptive entries with 4,300 hyperlinked cross-references.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, 3rd ed. 2002. The 6,900 entries in this major new reference work form the touchstone of what it means to be not only just a literate American but an active citizen in our multicultural democracy.

American idiom and some phrases just for fun : An ESL Meaning and Usage Workbook--contains Both Practice Exercises and Tests, by Edward Swick. Hauppauge, N.Y. Barron's, 1999.

Writing American Style : An ESL/EFL Handbook, by Sydney L Langosch. Hauppauge, N.Y. Barron's, 1999.

Foreign Language Collections

Student Club Collections

Library Help

For more online help to use the Libraries, go to our Library Help page and our page of Online Guides.

To contact a member of the Libraries' reference staff for assistance in using the library collections for your research, go to Reference, Research and Consulting Services.