BASIC TERMINOLOGY - Library management:
A term may be defined as a standardised name for a. given entity or concept which is precise. Terminology, in its turn, is defined as a system of terms used to denote the classes or ranked isolates in a scheme for classification. There should always be a one to one correspondence between the concepts and the terms used. It means that each concept will be denoted by one word or phrase, and conversely a word/phrase will denote one concept only. In a scientific/academic/legal communication, precise terminology is not only important but most essential. Effective communication cannot take place unless concepts and terns representing them are precisely defined. Predefined words are also known as technical terminology. Paradoxically the ordinary language that the common man speaks is both rich and poor. It is full of homonyms, i.e., one and the same term is often used with two or more meanings. For example, "bridge" and "cricket" have two meanings each. The word "order" has more than 200 meanings in the Oxford English Dictionary? Further, a word may connote different meanings in different contexts' A line of poetry has different meanings for different people. It (language) is also full of synonyms, i.e., one concept may be denoted by more than one word in the same language, e.g., wages, salary, and pay denote the same concept. Thus ordinary language is not a perfect tool of communication. If this is used without modifications in a scientific discipline, it will lead to problems in communication and ultimately hinder the development of the discipline. A Tower of Babel will lead only to chaos and confusion instead of any understanding and progress. The solution is to have a precisely defined terminology. No discipline can progress without its technical terminology.
In other words, there should be an organised attempt to:
i) delimit the vagueness of words and eliminate ambiguity;
ii) establish an agreed standard terminology free from homonyms and synonyms for each subject-field; and
iii) lay down methodology to coin new terms, when new ideas come into being or an old term has to be replaced.