Quarto

An oversized book, being over 11.5" (29 cm.) in height or width.

QR Code

An abbreviation of Quick Response code. A type of two-dimensional barcode invented in 1994 by a subsidiary of Toyota for use in the automotive industry (see this example). QR codes have far greater data storage capacity than standard UPC barcodes and can be decoded at high speed. QR codes storing addresses and Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) may appear on almost any object (books, periodicals, signage) to direct users to additional information (example). Click here to learn more about QR codes, courtesy of Wikipedia, and here to learn how QR codes are used in libraries.

Qualification

Evidence that a person applying for employment has passed the requisite examinations or acquired the education, experience, and skills necessary to meet the requirements stated in the position description. Usually used in the plural: qualifications.

In Dublin Core and some other metadata schemes, the process of using qualifiers to provide additional information about a metadata element.

Qualifier

In Dublin Core and some other metadata schemes, a term added to provide information about the value of a metadata element. In Dublin Core, qualifiers may refine the meaning of an element or identify encoding schemes that aid in interpreting the element value. In subject indexing, see parenthetical qualifier.

Also, a word or phrase added to a heading in an index to distinguish it from other headings with the same spelling but different meaning.

Quality Of Service

The degree to which the services provided by a library or library system meet the needs of its users and the standards established by the profession, usually assessed statisticcally and on the basis of qualitative feedback (user surveys, suggestion box, etc.). Quality of service is affected by budgetary constraints, management policies, design and condition of facilities, personnel decisions, and employee morale. Abbreviated QoS. See also: LIBQUAL+.

Quarter Binding

A style of bookbinding in which the spine is bound in a different material than the sides, usually a more durable covering such as leather, often in a contrasting color, extending no more than one-eighth of the width of the boards.Click here to see a 19th-century example in quarter calf with marbled paper boards and here to see an example with the spine in cloth, courtesy of the British Library's Database of Bookbindings. Compare with full binding, half binding, and three-quarter binding. See also: quarter cloth and quarter leather.

Quarter Cloth

A book with the spine bound in cloth and the rest of the cover in some other material, such as paper, often in a contrasting color (see this example, courtesy of Flickr.com). Compare with half cloth. See also: quarter leather.

Quarter Leather

A book with the spine bound in leather and the rest of the cover in some other material, such as cloth, often in a contrasting color (see these examples, courtesy of Sangorski & Sutcliffe). Compare with half leather. See also:quarter cloth.

Quarterly

Issued four times a year. Also refers to a serial issued every three months, usually in spring, summer, fall, and winter. Most scholarly journals are published quarterly (examples: Shakespeare Quarterly and Quarterly Review of Film and Video).

Quasi-Synonym

A word or phrase not precisely the same in meaning as another term, which is nevertheless treated as synonymous in a given indexing language, for example, the term "Library science" used for (UF) "Librarianship" in the Library of Congress Subject Headings list. Synonymous with near-synonym.

Quatern Book

In hand-binding, the binder traditionally bound the thirteenth book at no charge, presumably as an incentive to place larger binding orders, but by the early 19th century, this custom was restricted in England to all the copies of a single title delivered to the bindery at the same time and was not carried over into machine binding.

Quaternion

In bookbinding, a gathering consisting of four sheets of paper, parchment, or vellum folded once to create eight leaves, used in assembling some manuscript books and early printed books. See also: quinternion, sextern, and ternion.

Quatrefoil

An ornament or illustration resembling a four-lobed leaf or flower, commonly used in medieval architecture (especially in stained-glass windows) and in miniatures painted in illuminated manuscripts (see this example in a 14th-century Bible historiale, courtesy of the Getty Museum, MS. 1). Click here to see examples in a 14th-century French chronicle (Bibliothèque Nationale de France) and here to page through quatrefoil miniatures in a French breviary of the same century (Morgan Library, MS M.75).

Query

A request submitted as input in a search of an online catalog or bibliographic database to retrieve records or documents relevant to the user's information need(s). Some information storage and retrieval systems allow queries to be submitted in natural language, but most systems require the user to formulate search statements in the artificial language used for indexing and in syntax acceptable to the search software. The query is an approximation of the information need that provides the impetus for the search.

Also refers to the symbol ? used by the copy editor or by the printer's reader in the margins of a proof to indicate to the author the need for clarification of a detail in the text.

Questionnaire

A list of written questions carefully formulated to be administered to a selected group of people for the purpose of gathering information (feedback) in survey research. In libraries, patrons are sometimes asked to fill out a questionnaire designed to assess the perceived quality and usefulness of services and resources. The results are then compiled and analyzed for use in self-assessment and planning (see this online example).

Queue

A temporary storage location in a computer, reserved for data awaiting processing, usually organized chronologically (first-in-first-out) or according to some other pre-established priority. Also refers to a line of people waiting to be served or a series of tasks waiting to be executed, usually in the order in which they arrived or were received.

Quotation

Words or passages reproduced from a written work or repeated verbatim from an oral statement. Because words and phrases taken out of context may give a misleading impression of the whole, care must be taken in selecting quotations. A passage quoted incorrectly is a misquotation. In publishing, the accuracy of quotations is checked by the editor. Collections of literary quotations are available in the reference section of most libraries. 

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