Abbreviations

Definition

A shortened form of a written word or phrase used for brevity in place of the whole, commonly made by omitting letters from one or more parts.

Examples:

• assoc for association
• BTW for by the way
• aka for also known as

Library Abbreviations

Library-related acronyms, abbreviations, and initialisms.

A

• A&I - Abstracting and Indexing
• AACR2 - Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, Second Edition
• AALL - American Association of Law Libraries
• AASL - American Association of School Librarians
• ABAA - Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America
• ACRL - Association of College & Research Libraries
• AECT - Association for Educational Communications and Technology
• AHIP - Academy of Health Information Professionals
• ALA - American Library Association
• ALC - Americans for Libraries Council
• ALCTS - Association for Library Collections and Technical Services
• ALISE - Association for Library and Information Science Education
• ALOHA - Astronomy Librarians of Hawaii Association
• ANSI - American National Standards Institute
• ARL - Association of Research Libraries
• ARLIS/ANZ - Arts Libraries Society of Australia and New Zealand
• ARLIS/NA - Art Libraries Society of North America
• ARLIS/UK & Ireland - Arts Libraries Society of the United Kingdom and Ireland
• ARMA International - Association of Records Managers and Administrators International
• ASCII - American Standard Code for Information Interchange
• ASIS - American Society for Information Science (and Technology)
• ASTED - Association pour l'avancement des Sciences et TEchniques de la Documentation
• AV - Audio-Visual

B

• BALID - Bangladesh Association of Librarians, Information Scientists and Documentalists
• BFM - Bibliographic File Maintenence
• BI - Bibliographic Instruction
• BIBCO - the monographic BIBliographic record COmponent of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging
• BL - British Library
• BPL - Boston Public Library
• BIP - Books In Print
• BnF - Bibliothèque nationale de France

C

• CAHSL - Connecticut Association of Health Sciences Librarians
• CDA - Communications Decency Act
• CD-R - Compact Disc-Recordable
• CD-ROM - Compact Disc Read-Only Memory
• CD-RW - Compact Disc ReWritable
• CDS - Cataloging Distribution Service (Library of Congress)
• CILIP - Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
• CIP - Cataloging-In-Publication
• CLA - Canadian Library Association
• CLIR - Council on Library & Information Resources
• CNI - Coalition for Networked Information
• CONSER - Cooperative ONline SERials (PCC component)
• CPSO - Cataloging Policy and Support Office (Library of Congress)
• CV - Curriculum Vitae
• CDS/ISIS - Computerised Documentation Services Intregated Set of Information System
• COMLA - Common Welth Library Association
• CCF- Common Communication Facility

D

• ddb - die Deutsche Bibliothek (German National Library)
• DDC - Dewey Decimal Classification
• DDS - Document Delivery Service
• DOI - Digital Object Identifier
• DIRKS - Design and Implementation of Recordkeeping Systems
• DCM Z1 - Descriptive Cataloging Manual Z1 ("Yellow Pages")
• DMCA - Digital Millennium Copyright Act
• DRM - Digital Rights Management
• DVD - Digital Video Disc

E

• ERIC - Educational Resources Information Clearinghouse

F

• FDLP - Federal Depotisitory Library Program
• FRBR - Functional Requirements of Bibliographic Records

G

• GIF - Graphics Interchange Format
• GIS - Geographic Information Systems
• GPO - Government Printing Office
• GUI - Graphical User Interface

H

• HR - Human Resources
• HTML - HyperText Markup Language
• HTTP - HyperText Transfer Protocol
• HTTPS - HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure

I

• IALL - International Association of Law Libraries
• IAMSLIC - International Association of Aquatic and Marine Science Libraries and Information Centers
• IB - Information Behavior
• IE - Internet Explorer
• IFLA - International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
• III - Innovative Interfaces, Incorporated
• ILL - InterLibrary loan
• IMLS - Institute for Museum and Library Services
• ISBD - International Standard Bibliographic Description
• ISBN - International Standard Book Number
• ISC - Information for Social Change (Advocacy group : United Kingdom)
• ISP - Internet Service Provider
• ISSN - International Standard Serial Number
• IT - Information Technology

J

• JAKE - Jointly Administered Knowledge Environment
• JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group
• JSTOR - Journal STORage

K

• KWIC - KeyWord In Context
• KWOC - KeyWord Out of Context

L

• LAB - Library Association of Bangladesh
• LAN - Local Area Network
• LC - Library of Congress
• LCC - Library of Congress Classification
• LCCN - Library of Congress Control Number
• LCRI - Library of Congress Rule Interpretation(s)
• LCSH - Library of Congress Subject Headings, aka "The Big Red Books"
• LFF - LIbrarians For Fairnesss
• LIS - Library and Information Science (common abbreviation)
• LISA - Library and Information Science Abstracts
• LISA - Library and Information Services in Astronomy
• LISBd - Librarians and Information Scientists, Bangladesh
• LITA - Library and Information Technology Association
• LOCKSS - Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe
• LTTE - Letter To The Editor

M

• MALS - Master of Arts, Librarianship
• MARC - MAchine Readable Cataloging
• MARC - Machine Readable Catalogue
• MARC 21 Machine Readable Catalogue 21 Century
• MFHD - MARC Format for Holdings Data
• MIS - Master of Information Science
• MLA
  • Medical Library Association
  • Modern Language Association
  • Music Library Association
• MLIS - Master of Library and Information Science
• MLS - Master of Library Science
• MSLIS - Master of Science in Library and Information Science

N

• NACO - the Name Authority COmponent of the PCC
• NAMTC - National Association of Media & Technology Centers
• NAR - Name Authority Record
• NASIG - North American Serials Interest Group
• NCLIS - National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
• ND - No Date
• NISC - National Information Services Corporation
• NISO - National Information Standards Organization
• NLA - Nevada Library Association
• NN/LM - National Network of Libraries of Medicine
• NTIS - National Technical Information Service
• NUC National Union Catalog
• NYPL - New York Public Library

O

• OCLC - Online Computer Library Center
• ODLIS - Online Dictionary for Library and Information Science
• OED - Oxford English Dictionary
• OP - Out of Print
• OPAC - Online Public Access Catalog
• OS - Out of Stock

P

• PC - Personal Computer
• PCC - Program for Cooperative Cataloging (Library of Congress)
• PDF - Portable Document Format
• PLG - Progressive Librarians Guild (Advocacy group : chiefly United States)
• PMOLIB - Prime Minister's Office Library
• PO - Purchase Order
• PPL - Peace Palace Library
• PLA - Pakistan Library Association

R

• RA - Readers' Advisory
• RAK - Regeln für Alphabetische Katalogisierung
• RDA - Resource Description and Access
• RDF - Resource Description Framework
• RFID - Radio Frequency IDentification
• RFK - Regeln für die Formalkatalogisierung
• RFP - Request For Proposal
• RIM - Records and Information Management
• RLG - Research Libraries Group
• RSS - Multiple, depending on the version
• RSWK - Regeln für den Schlagwortkatalog
• RUSA - Reference and Users Services Association

S

• SAA - Society of American Archivists
• SACO - the Subject Authority COmponent of the PCC
• SCCTP - Serial Cataloging Cooperative Training Program
• SCM - Subject Cataloging Manual (Library of Congress)
• SIC code - Standard Industrial Classification code
• SLA - Special Libraries Association
• SMS reference - Short Message Service reference
• SPARC - Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition
• SRRT - Social Responsibilities Round Table (American Library Association)
• SSL - Secure sockets layer
• SuDoc - Superintendent of Documents

T

• TOC - Table Of Contents
• t.p. - Title page

U

• UDC - Universal Decimal Classification
• URI - Unifrom Resource Indicator
• URL - Uniform Resource Locator
• USA PATRIOT Act - Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act
• USB - Universal Serial Bus
• VHS - Video Home System
• WLIC - World Library and Information Congress

V

• VPN - Virtual Private Network
• vlog - Video (web-)log.

W

• WAN - Wide Area Network
• WWW - World Wide Web

ZBB

Zero Base Budgeting

• Z39.50

Other Resources

For a more exhaustive list of library abbreviations, see:

• All Acronyms - a searchable database of acronyms and abbreviations
• Harrod's librarians' glossary and reference book: a directory of over 10,200 terms, organizations, projects and acronyms in the areas of information management, library science, publishing and archive management. 2005. Raymond John Prytherch, Editor. ISBN: 0754640388