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Indigenous Knowledges Digital Learning Library (IKDLL) Glossary
The IKDLL Glossary is a living document that provides definitions of terms used throughout the Indigenous Knowledges Digital Learning Library. It includes traditionally academic terms used in a library and archival setting. As the IKDLL grows, the glossary will grow as well.
Purpose
The glossary was created following a conversation with our Indigenous Knowledge Holder advisors in which they requested that we create a glossary of the jargon, and definitions, that was written into the Mission, Vision, and Collecting Scope statements. Academic language can be specialized and alienating to communities outside of academia, and the goal of this glossary is to deconstruct and make academic and archival language as accessible as possible to anyone who uses the IKDLL.
IKDLL Glossary
| Archives | records created or received by a person, family, or organization and preserved because of their continuing value |
| an institution’s or individual’s entire preserved body of interrelated and interdependent records | |
| a selection of digital records or digital surrogates of records made available as a curated online collection | |
| a collection of manuscript collections managed as a thematic unit and representing a collecting specialization of an archival repository | |
| an organization that collects the records of individuals, families, or other organizations; a collecting archives | |
| (usually construed as sing., earlier treated as pl.) the division within an organization responsible for acquiring and maintaining the organization’s records of continuing value; institutional archives | |
| (capitalized and usually preceded by the) the official repository of a nation, state, territory, or institution’s records of continuing value | |
| the building, buildings, or portion thereof housing records of continuing value | |
| the professional discipline, practice, and study of administering such collections and organizations; archivy | |
| (sometimes capitalized to note reference to a particular archival organization) related to archives; archival | |
| Archival material | records in any format retained for their continuing value—also, in early use, as distinguished from manuscripts |
| Archival record | materials created or received by a person, family, or organization, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs that are preserved because of the enduring value contained in the information they contain or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator. |
| Appendix | supplemental material that, due to its nature or limitations of space, is placed at the end of a work |
| Artifact | a physical object that is made or modified by human culture; a three-dimensional object held in an archive; a library or archival resource that has value as a physical object in addition to its informational value; an anomaly in data that results from the methodology used to capture or analyze the data, or that was introduced or produced during a procedure |
| Attribute | a feature or characteristic; a property |
| Born digital | originating in a computer environment; originally created in a digital/electronic environment; e.g. an email |
| Call number | a unique combination of letters and numbers used to identify an item and to facilitate storage and retrieval |
| Collection | a set of archival or (more commonly) manuscript materials; materials assembled by a person, organization, or repository from a variety of sources; an artificial collection; (sometimes pl., collections) a thematic aggregation of sets of otherwise unrelated archival materials; (also pl., collections) the holdings of a repository, taken as a whole; the process and practice of collecting archival materials |
| Community archives | documentation of a group of people that share common interests, and social, cultural and historical heritage, usually created by members of the group being documented and maintained outside of traditional archives |
| Contributor | an individual or organization with secondary responsibility for the creation of a collaborative work or a collection.An individual or organization with secondary responsibility for the creation of a collaborative work or a collection. |
| Creative Commons | type of license, built on copyright, that provides a standardized way for creators to give others the right to share and use their work |
| Custodian | the person or organization holding and responsible for the care of archival and other cultural materials |
| Data Object | information in binary form and its associated metadata |
| Digital curation | the actions taken to select, manage, preserve, and add value to digital data throughout its lifecycle |
| Digital object | Digital objects may be either simple or complex. Simple digital objects are made up of a single file, such as a PDF or an image, while complex digital objects are made up of multiple files, such as a website or a digitized book. In any case, digital objects include informational content as well as metadata that supports administration, access, and preservation |
| Digital repository | the technical infrastructure, services, and resources for the storage and management of digital information |
| Digital stewardship | the management of digital objects throughout their life cycle to facilitate their long-term preservation and use |
| Ephemera | materials, usually printed documents, created for a specific, limited purpose, and generally designed to be discarded after use |
| Finding aid | a description that typically consists of contextual and structural information about an archival resource |
| Institutional Record | a record created or received by an organization in the course of its activities |
| Manuscript | a handwritten document; an unpublished document |
| Memorandum | (frequently memo), n. (memorandums, memoranda, memos, pl.): A textual communication used principally in business that lacks the formal salutation and complimentary ending of a letter; A short note made as a personal reminder; An informal document detailing the terms of a contract or transaction; a memorial. |
| Metadata | information about data that promotes discovery, structures data objects, and supports the administration and preservation of records |
| Moving image | a generic term for a visual work that has the appearance of movement; e.g. a home video.A generic term for a visual work that has the appearance of movement; e.g. a home video. |
| Nonprint materials | items that are not books, periodicals, or pamphlets; nonbook materials; Audiovisual materials |
| Oral history | an interview that records an individual's personal recollections of the past and historical events; the audio or video recordings, transcripts, and other materials that capture and are associated with such an interview.An interview that records an individual's personal recollections of the past and historical events; the audio or video recordings, transcripts, and other materials that capture and are associated with such an interview |
| Original entry | the initial record of a transaction, recorded sequentially, used as a source for posting in other ledgers |
| Open access | the principle that access to archival resources should not be restricted unnecessarily; a model of access to created works and data that seeks to eliminate barriers for readers such as subscription fees and physical media, and barriers to reuse such as copyright restrictions and licensing fees |
| Open educational resources | learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others |
| Paper | Sheets made by extracting fibers from a suspension through a fine screen, where they are combined through matting or felting, then dried; a newspaper; a scholarly essay or lecture read at a conference or presented for publication; a student essay; Negotiable instrument, especially one that is evidence of debt |
| Papers | records created and originally kept by an individual or a family; (usually capitalized) used in the title of a set of archival materials to identify these as one created by an individual or a family; records on paper considered as physical objects rather than an aggregation of information |
| Provenance | the origin or source of something; information regarding the origins, custody, and ownership of an item or collection |
| Public record | a record created or received by a government official or agency as part of their official duty or function; a record preserved in a government archive for future reference; public archives; a record that is the property of the citizens of a state or |
| Record | information or data stored on a medium and used as an extension of human memory or to support accountability; information or data created or received by an organization in the course of its activities; organizational record; an entry describing a work in a catalog; a catalog record |
| Repository | a space used to store items of continuing value, particularly records; a storehouse: an institution focused on the care and storage of items of continuing value, particularly records |
| Restriction | limitations on access to or use of materials |
| Access restrictions may be defined by a period of time or by a class of individual allowed or denied access. They may be designed to protect national security (classification3), personal privacy, or to preserve materials. | |
| Use restrictions may limit what can be done with materials, or they may place qualifications on use. For example, an individual may be allowed access to materials but may not have permission or right to copy, quote, or publish those materials, or conditions may be imposed on such use. In addition to legal use restrictions, such as privacy and copyright, donor agreements often contain use restrictions. | |
| Special collection | a cohesive collection of noncirculating research materials held together by provenance or by a thematic focus; an institution or an administrative unit of a library responsible for managing materials outside the general library collection, including rare books, archives, manuscripts, maps, oral history interviews, and ephemera |
| Sound recording | any medium capable of capturing and reproducing an audible signal. |
| Tag | a keyword or descriptor used to identify or characterize content, context, or physical aspects of a record, photograph, digital object, or social media post |
Requests to add words
If anyone finds or feels that a word found in the IKDLL or a word that may be of value to add to the glossary, please email us at ikdll@nau.edu with your request, including the word, definition, and a brief statement describing the reasoning behind the request. We will review all requests and communicate if/when words are added to the glossary.