Libraries use lots of jargon to talk about all things library. Here are some of the common terms you might encounter, particularly at a university library, and also here at Princeton University Library.
ArticleExpress: Part of the interlibrary loan service that focuses specifically on scans of book chapters and articles as opposed to physical materials like books.
Borrow Direct: A patron-initiated interlibrary loan service. Instead of filling out a form, patrons can search for books from our Ivies+ consortium partners and, if they find a lendable copy, request it directly through the Borrow Direct website.
Carrel: Also called study carrels and student carrels, these are semi-enclosed work spaces that people can use. Sometimes carrels can be assigned to specific people and others are open for anyone to use.
Circ: Short for circulation, the service that checks books in and out for patrons.
ILL: Acronym for interlibrary loan, a service that borrows books for patrons from other libraries if Princeton does not own a book or our copy is checked out.
ReCAP: Our off-site storage facility located in Plainsboro. We share this facility with Harvard, Columbia, and New York Public Library. Materials from their collections that are stored in ReCAP and part of our shared collections will appear in our catalog and are requestable as if Princeton owned them. Books requested will usually arrive within 24 hours of placing the request.
Stacks: The bookshelves and books. Most of Princeton University Library is an open-stack library, which means that patrons are able to go and browse the shelves and take books off the shelves themselves.
Trace: If a patron tries to find a book in the stacks and it's not checked out but also not there they can ask for a trace, which means that library staff will try to find the book, which might have been misshelved or might be on a reshelving cart.