Glossary of acronyms and abbreviations

A list of current and in some cases now historic acronyms and abbreviations.

AcronymExpansion/Explanation
AACR2Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, 2nd edition [often simply just AACR]
AGMAnnual General Meeting
AHRBArts and Humanities Research Board
AHDSArts and Humanities Data Service
ALAAmerican Library Association
ARSCAssociation for Recorded Sound Collections (principally US-based)
ASWAnnual Study Weekend
BBCBritish Broadcasting Corporation
BLBritish Library
BLCMPBirmingham Libraries Co-operative Mechanisation Project
BLCPPBritish Library Co-operation & Partnership Programme
BLDSCBritish Library Document Supply Centre
BMICBritish Music Information Centre
BnFBibliothèque national de France
BPITrade body for the UK record industry
CC:DACommittee on Cataloging: Description & Access — part of ALA
CERLConsortium of European Research Libraries
CHOMBECCentre for the History of Music in Britain, the Empire and the Commonwealth
CIDOCCommittee on Documentation of the International Council of Museums
CILIPChartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
CMCContemporary Music Centre [Dublin]
COLICOCommittee on Library Cooperation in Ireland
CONARLSCircle of Officers of National and Regional Library Systems
CURLConsortium of University Research Libraries
DCDublin Core (metadata standard)
DCMIDublin Core Metadata Initiative
DCMSDepartment for Culture, Media and Sport
DCUDublin City University
DENIDepartment of Education for Northern Ireland
DITDublin Institute of Technology [includes Conservatory of Music and Drama]
DSCsee BLDSC
DTDDocument Type Definition (XML definitions)
EADEncoded Archival Description
EANEuropean Article Number (i.e. the barcode on all European products) see also UPC
FAIRFocus on Access to Institutional Resources
FRADFunctional Requirements for Authority Data superseding FRAR
FRANARFunctional Requirements and Numbering of Authority Records
FRARFunctional Requirements for Authority Records possibly superseded by FRAD
FRBRFunctional Requirements for Bibliographic Records
FRBRooFunctional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (object oriented) — an attempt to harmonize FRBR with the CIDOC Conceptual Reference Model
FRSADFunctional Requirements for Subject Authority Data equivalent to FRSAR
FRSARFunctional Requirements for Subject Authority Records equivalent to FRSAD
GLASSGreater London Audio Specialisation Scheme — assists interlending of sound recordings
GMDGeneral Material Designation — AACR2 term to be superseded
HEAHigher Education Authority [main source of higher education funds in Irish Republic]
HEFCEHigher Education Funding Council for England (pronounced as Hef-see)
HEFCWHigher Education Funding Council for Wales
HLFHeritage Lottery Fund
HTMLHypertext Markup Language — the basis of the World Wide Web
IAMICInternational Association of Music Information Centres
IAMLInternational Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres
IASAInternational Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives
IFLAInternational Federation of Library Associations
IFPIInternational Federation of the Phonographic Industry
IISInstitute of Information Scientists — merged with LA to form CILIP
IMSInternational Musicological Society
INSPIREInformation Sharing Partners in Resources for Education
ISBDInternational Standard Bibliographic Description
ISMNInternational Standard Music Number
ISRCInternational Standard Recording Code
ISWCInternational Standard Work Code
ITMAIrish Traditional Music Archive
JISCJoint Information Systems Committee
JSCJoint Steering Committee (for AACR)
LALibrary Association — merged with IIS to form CILIP
LABLLibrary Association/British Library committee to discussing cataloguing rules — now superseded
LC or LoCLibrary of Congress
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
LIPLibrary and Information Plan
LLiLLibraries and Learners in London
LLGCLlyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = National Library of Wales
MARBIMachine-Readable Bibliographic Information committee — of ALA
MARCMAchine-Readable Cataloguing (also UKMARC, USMARC, MARC21, UNIMARC etc.)
MARCXMLMARC coding recast as XML
MCPS/PRSMechanical-Copyright Protection Society/Performing Rights Society Alliance
METSMetadata Encoding and Transmission Standard
MILDREDMusic in Libraries: Directory and Resource Discovery
MLAMuseums, Libraries and Archives Council
MLAMusic Library Association (US body)
MLOMusic Libraries Online
MLTMusic Libraries Trust
MODSMetadata Object Description Schema
MOLAMajor Orchestra Librarians’ Association
MPEGMoving Picture Experts Group (content and metadata standards as in e.g. MPEG 7)
NAMHENational Association of Musicians in Higher Education
NFIPNational Forum for Information Planning
NISCNational Information Services Corporation
NLINational Library of Ireland
NLSNational Library of Scotland
NLWLlyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru = National Library of Wales
NOFNew Opportunities Fund
NSAdefunct acronym for: British Library Sound Archive
NUINational University of Ireland [as in NUI Maynooth, NUI Galway, etc.]
ONIXOnline Information Exchange (an international standard for exchange of publishers’ information)
OODObject-oriented design also OOP Object-oriented programming
OUPOxford University Press
OWLWeb Ontology Language
PADSdefunct acronym for: AHDS Performing Arts
PRSsee MCPS/PRS Alliance
PULMANPublic Libraries Mobilising Advanced Networks
QUBQueen’s University Belfast
RAKRegeln für die alphabetische Katalogisierung — German cataloguing code
RAMRoyal Academy of Music
RASCALResearch and Special Collections Available Locally [resource database originally developed in Northern Ireland, now being extended throughout Ireland]
RCMRoyal College of Music
RDAResource Description and Access (successor to AACR2)
RDFResource Description Framework — a W3C metadata specification
RDNResource Discovery Network
RIAMRoyal Irish Academy of Music
RIdIMRépertoire International d’Iconographie Musicale
RILMRépertoire International de Littérature Musicale
RIPMRépertoire International de la Presse Musicale
RISCRépertoire International des Spectacles et Concerts
RISMRépertoire International des Sources Musicales
RNCMRoyal Northern College of Music
RSAMDRoyal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
RSLGResearch Support Libraries Group
RSLPResearch Support Libraries Programme
RSSReally Simple Syndication among other interpretations. A means for distribution of web content by means of XML feeds to certain web browsers or RSS readers/RSS aggregators.
RTERadio Telefís Éireann [Irish national broadcaster)
SGMLStandard Generalized Markup Language — the superset that includes HTML, XHTML, XML …
SHEFCScottish Higher Education Funding Council
SIBMASSociété Internationale des Bibliothèques et des Musées des Arts du Spectacle = International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts
SMDSpecific Material Designation — AACR2 term to be superseded
SQLStructured Query Language — the most widespread database access method
SMISociety for Musicology in Ireland
SRUSearch/Retrieve via URL — a standard search protocol for Internet search queries
SRWSearch/Retrieve Web service — a web service for search and retrieval
SWRLSSouth Western Regional Library System
TCDTrinity College Dublin
TCMTrinity College of Music [London] later Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
TIGTheatre Information Group
UCCUniversity College Cork
UCDUniversity College Dublin
ULUniversity of Limerick
UPCUniversal Product Code (i.e. the barcode on all North-American products) see also EAN
VIAFVirtual International Authority File
VRAVisual Resources Association
W3CWorld Wide Web Consortium
WILIPWider Information and Library Issues Project
WiLLWhat’s in London Libraries
WOLsee OWL
WSISWorld Summit on the Information Society
XHTMLA strict version of HTML — conforming to XML syntax rules
XMLExtensible Markup Language
Z39.50Client–server search and retrieval protocol (also known as ISO 23950 – see what they did there?)