• Databases & Articles

• Subject Headings

• Web Sites

• ASU Department Links
  

• Content Editor

  Miles Efron
  Reference and Instruction Librarian
  efronmj@appstate.edu
  828-262-8306

• Content Updated

  10 April 2006

Databases & Articles (opens in a new window)

Subject Headings

To improve searching, librarians label every item in the Library Catalog with one or more "subject headings." These are agreed-upon names for commonly searched topics. The Library of Congress dictates these subject headings. For example, books pertaining to statistical inference will be given the subject heading "Mathematical statistics." Conducting a subject search for "statistical inference" will yield 0 results despite the library's ample holdings in this subject. Instead, those interested in statistical inference should perform a subject search for "mathematical statistics."

Using the Library of Congress' subject headings can make your search more efficient. However, to search by subject effectively, you need to be informed. To find the appropriate subject headings for your search, consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings volumes, located in the Reference area. Several common mathematical subject searches are shown below.

• Mathematics
• Mathematics -- Study and Teaching
• Mathematics -- History
• Mathematical models
• Algebra
• Business mathematics
• Geometry, Analytic
• Number theory
• Set theory
• Trigonometry
• Statistics
• Probabilities

Web Sites

A great deal of high-quality research in the mathematical sciences is available on the Internet at large. This section lists several online repositories of consistently high-quality material. However, a caveat is in order. Although each of these online repositories provides a great deal of useful information, each repository relies on its own standards and mechanisms for ensuring the quality of its holdings. As in any data collection service, then, readers are well advised to read and understand each repository's rationale for collection maintenance.

• Web-based repositories of mathematical research
  • Jahrbuch über die Fortschritte der Mathematik: Covers articles published from 1868 through 1942. The free online version is available from EMIS (The European Mathematical Information Service).
  • Cornell University Math Collection: Access to approximately 500 mathematical monographs with expired copyrights. Most titles date from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
  • arXiv.org: Maintained by Cornell University, arXiv.org provides access to approximately 350,000 e-prints in fields such as physics, mathematics, computer science, and computational biology.
  • citeseer: A digital library focusing primarily on computer science (as well as a good deal of applied mathematics and statistics). Originally developed at NEC Research, Citeseer is now housed at Penn State University. In addition to full-text versions of papers, Citeseer maintains databases on patterns of citation among papers and authors.
• Selected mathematical websites and sites of mathematical organizations
  • American Institute of Mathematics
  • American Mathematical Society
  • American Statistical Association
  • Canadian Mathematical Society
  • European Mathematical Information Service
  • Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
  • International Mathematical Union
  • Mathematical Association of America
  • Mathematical Sciences Research Institute
  • Pi Mu Epsilon
  • Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM)
  • European Women in Mathematics
  • Math Forum: From Drexel University, Math Forum provides access to a wide range of information on math education. Its collection is especially strong in matters of mathematical pedagogy, including software, problem sets, and articles devoted to teaching math.
  • MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive: From the University of St. Andrews (Scotland). Contains biographies of famous mathematicians, as well as interactive collections of maps, timelines, and significant mathematical curves.
  • Biographies of Women Mathematicians: A student-published archive from Agnes Scott College (Decatur, GA).
• Mathematical subject guides from other academic libraries (each of these sites helped inform this subject guide)
  • MIT Subject Guide to Mathematics and Applied Math
  • Stanford University's Math and Computer Science Library
  • Wellesley College Library, Research Resources for Mathematics

ASU Department Links

• ASU Department of Mathematical Sciences (http://www.mathsci.appstate.edu)
• Library Access Page (by Professor Jeff Hirst of ASU)