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Surround me with books! Fill my head with knowledge, enrich my life with imagination, improve me with wisdom! Take me to the Library!

As a child, I was extremely fortunate to live just up the street from a small library.

It only had a few rooms, but it was always an adventure to walk there, my library card in my pocket, excited to see what book I would walk home with that day. And I spent a long time deciding. I’d walk from one bookcase to another, selecting maybe five possibilities, then reading the dustjackets of each, slowly narrowing down the choice until I finally made my decision. I still use that process today whenever I finish a book and move on to the next one.

We also had a bookmobile in town, which visited the elementary schools in town once a week. A bookmobile is a small bus filled with stacks of books, and you needed a library card for that as well. Many of my happiest childhood memories begin with a library card in my hand.

If you are going to visit a library, and you should, there are some specific words and phrases in English that you are going to want to know.

• Barcode – This is a printed label found usually on the back of a book. It contains all the information needed to identify the book, and is scanned when you borrow a book from a library.
• Call number – Every book in a library has a unique call number. It is like the book’s address, in that the call number tells you where the book will be found in the library. Reading the call number from left to right, the first letters and numbers represent the subject of the book. Next comes the author’s last name, and finally the last section of a call number indicates the date of publication. There are three major types of call numbers:

1. Library of Congress, used by most academic libraries
2. Dewey Decimal, used by most public libraries
3. SuDocs for government publications

• Circulation Desk – This is where people go to check out or borrow books for a specified length of time.
• Due date – Every item borrowed from a library has a return date, or due date.
• Dustjacket – The removable outer cover of a book.
• E-Book – Digitally published books may be available from your library, sometimes through subscription.
• ILL (Inter-Library Loan) – Most libraries are affiliated with other libraries. You may borrow from any library associated with your library using this service.
• Librarian – The professional who answers questions, shelves books, and facilitates the borrowing of books and other materials at a library.
• Library Card – This is your identification stating that you are a member of a library and that you are permitted to borrow from it.
• Stacks – The area in a library where books and periodicals are stored.

No vocabulary list can ever be complete, and I am sure that there are many terms that you may have encountered at your local library. The important thing to remember is that having a library card is like having a key to all the world’s knowledge. It may be the most wonderful possession imaginable.