Glossary

It’s important to use the same words, spelling, and capitalization consistently, otherwise content presents as messy and confusing to people.

Refer to the Web Content Management Committee’s “Dejargonators” subgroup to evaluate best use of labels for services.

A

account

Always refer to a person’s library account as My Account (proper noun). “Go to My Account to see checked out items.”

B

Bio-Medical Library

Sunsetting January 2020. See “Health Sciences Library.”

H

Health Sciences Library

The official name replacing Bio-Medical Library in January 2020. It refers specifically to the one library, often abbreviated as HSL (follow abbreviation guidelines for this use).

Decided by: Health Sciences Library

L

library, libraries

When referring to the library system, use University Libraries. When addressing a specific location, use its proper name, e.g., Wilson Library. If referring to libraries generally (scoped to all libraries, e.g. “academic libraries”), use lowercase “library”. When referring to it, use the singular third person pronoun (it/its).

M

MNCAT Discovery

Outdated. See “search”.

Minitex

All lower case. Do not use MINITEX.

S

search

Use “Libraries search” for Primo UI or “Libraries catalog” for Alma-only search.

Decided by: D2A steering committee, February 2019

U

university

University of Minnesota is the appropriate name to use, or if referring to it later on the same page, “the University” is acceptable. Avoid UMN or U of M abbreviations.