The Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library contains books that support the academic programs of Queens College. They are organized by subject according to the Library of Congress classification system (see call number tutorial). A quick overview of our print collection:
The CUNY Catalog provides a record of the following information about books, which will be important for your Works Cited of Reference pages (for your research papers):
Many of the catalog records include a brief description from the publisher about the book. This is not to be confused with an abstract, which you will learn more about in the Articles source type section.
(Source: https://bookprinting.com/resources/parts-of-a-book)
Use the infographic above to familiarize yourself with the parts of a book. Some of the more complex parts we've explained below.
Cover Material: Hardcover books are built from cardboard that is wrapped with either a solid color material (typically a colored paper or a leatherette) or a printed text stock (laminated glossy or matte).
Endsheet: A piece of paper, usually blank, that's glued to the inside cover of a hardcover book. While the standard endsheet is white and blank, you can choose to have solid-colored endsheets or print on white endsheets.
Flyleaf: The flyleaf is the loose part of the endsheet (see above). It is not glued to the cover. Because a flyleaf is part of an endsheet, it can also be colored or have something printed on it.
Footband: Similar to the headband (see below), a footband is a special band at the bottom of the spine that hides the glue and helps keep the spine together.
Gutter: The space on the inside margin of pages where the book is bound. Anything within the gutter typically isn't visible.
Headband: A special band at the top of the spine that hides the glue and helps keep the spine together.
Inside Cover (of a paperback): The inside cover of a paperback is the literal back of the cover. It is intentionally left blank.
Recto: In an open book, recto is the page on the right side.
Signature Block: A bundle of pages, usually in groups of eight, 16, or 32, that begin as one large sheet of paper and are then folded and trimmed to create individual pages.
Spine: The outside case of the binding, where all the pages are glued together. When a book is on the shelf, the spine is what faces outward.
Verso: In an open book, verso is the page on the left side.