Glossary
Library Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential library technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key library technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in library technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Barcode
- A label used to track items.
- Call number
- An item’s shelf address.
- Cataloging
- Describing items for search.
- Circulation
- Lending and returning materials.
- Dewey Decimal System
- A classification for books.
- Fine
- A fee for late or lost items.
- Hold
- A reservation on an item.
- ILS
- Integrated library system.
- Interlibrary loan
- Borrowing from other libraries.
- Page
- A worker who shelves books.
- Patron
- A library user.
- Periodicals
- Magazines and journals.
- Processing
- Preparing new items for shelves.
- Shelf reading
- Checking items are in order.
- Weeding
- Removing outdated items.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Library Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Library Technician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.