Library Tour

Library Tour

For anyone studying the history of mathematics, it is crucial that you learn to use the resources in the library. This web page indicates the types of things that we looked at during our library tour. This page has been posted to assist anyone who was unable to go on one of the tours.

We met outside the science library and then proceeded through the turnstiles. The first thing we noted was the picture of Professor Frank Ogg on the wall. He was the head of the Mathematics Department for sixteen years, and also served as University librarian. The basic layout of the science library is that all reference works and periodicals are on the third floor (where we entered) and all of the books, except those in the reference section are on the fourth.

We began in the reference section (just to the right of the door where we entered) by looking at the

It is a work in sixteen volumes plus two supplementary volumes. Take a volume down off the shelf and open it up. Note that after the name of each individual the field in which they worked is given. Page through until you find an entry dealing with a mathematician. Skim through the article and note that it begins with biographical information and then proceeds to the mathematical work that that individual did. It ends with a bibliography; first works by the individual and then secondary works about the individual. The first portion of the bibliography will indicate if the individual's collected works have been published (but they may be called 'Selected Works' or 'Papers' or 'Gesammelte Abhandlungen' or some such). The articles can be quite short (half a column) or very long (some exceed 20 pages) depending on the import of the individual. Most of the articles in this work are excellent, but a few are not very good.

For example in the article on J. J. Sylvester, we found the following secondary reference:

Later we went an looked this up and found it quite interesting. Sylvester was denied a degree in England because he was Jewish so came to Virginia. There was also opposition to him there, but not as much. He left after only a few months because of rumors that he killed a student. Later we looked at Sylvester's Collected Mathematical Papers (510.8S98c) but did not find any of his awful poetry (perhaps we should have looked more carefully). Enough of this aside, lets go back to the reference section.

While in this section note the works around you. There are mathematical dictionaries, encyclopedias of mathematics, foreign language dictionaries, scientific encyclopedias, as well as more specialized reference works, such as the

which is very useful for its introductory papers about various areas of mathematics and the which has articles on the mathematics in Egypt, China, Asia, etc., as well as entries under algebra, geometry, and many other areas. This is a new work which I do not yet know, but my first impressions are quite positive.

As we move through the reference area we come to Ken May's

You will remember that I showed overheads of this book in class. Let us see how to use it. In the biographical section, we can look up the name of a mathematician, say Pythagoras. There are lots of references to works about him, including Now that will take some decoding, so we go to the list of abbreviations at the end of the volume and find There is probably no need to look up what "Amer" abbreviates. Note that no title for the paper is given. To find that information we will need to find the journal on this floor of the library. The journals are arranged alphabetically; but the alphabetic order is that used by librarians: Initial articles are not used unless the journal happens to have a French title. Items such as the "Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society" are alphabetized under "American Mathematical Society, Bulletin." If you have difficulty, consult a librarian.

Let us now find volume 43 of the American Mathematical Monthly and opened it to page 409. There we see the paper and so now have the full reference

Perhaps you recognize the name of this professor from Vassar. She was later Admiral Grace Hopper, a computer expert for the Navy that found the first computer "bug" in 1951.

This is the way that you will use the work of May's Bibliography and Research Manual. Not all of the journals to which he refers are in our library, so that will cause some frustration. Also, since the titles are not given, you will not be able to obtain them via interlibrary loan unless you can find the title of the paper elsewhere.

Let us now continue in the reference section to where the

are shelved. Although this is much easier to use in its web version Math-Sci-Net, it is informative to take a look at the printed version. Note that it began publication in 1940 and continues to the present day. Take a volume off the shelf and look at (we shall look at section 01, the section on history). Note that complete bibliographic data are given (a key to the abbreviations used for the names of the journals is given at the end of the volume). It is interesting to compare the sizes of the volumes. Today about 50,000 papers are reviewed each year, and this includes only those which contain original research. Thus although you are mostly unaware of it, a great amount of mathematics is published each year.

At this stage in the actual tour, we went to look up several articles in the journals, but since that information has been included above, it shall not be repeated here.

Now let's head upstairs. Unfortunately, the books are catalogued using two different systems. The older ones are catalogued using the Dewey Decimal System (most of those that interest us have call numbers beginning with 510 or so) and the Library of Congress System (and it is the QAs that we care about). Our library is in the process of converting everything to the LC system, but that won't do us any good this semester.

Let us go first to the Dewey section which contains books on the

Here you will find several shelves of books. These range from textbooks by authors such as Boyer, Burton, and Eves to very scholarly works, such as the books by Marshall Claggett on Archimedes in the Middle Ages. It would be too big a project to list here what is in this section. What you will use very much depends on the topic you use for your major paper.

Nearby you will find the collected works of mathematicians such as Johann Bernoulli, Cauchy, Euler, Gauss, Hardy, Lagrange, Newton, Poincare, Sylvester and von Neumann. In fact these collected works are one of the strengths of our library. If you want to look at some of these, consult the card catalog.

Moving now to the Library of Congress section, take a look at the books on the

You will find the same sorts of works as in the Dewey section, but these works are all newer. Again, I don't think I will make mention of specific works.

I strongly encourage you to go to these two sections of the library and to spend some time browsing. Look for things that strike your fancy. Look for things that would make an interesting paper.

You should also be aware that all works on the history of mathematics are not classified in the history section. Those dealing with specific topics, such as the history of analysis or the history of graph theory, are shelved with the other books on those topics. So to find all the books on the history of mathematics you need to browse the entire mathematics section.

No doubt you will have questions about the library and how to find things, so I encourage you to ask questions before, in, or after class, to come to my office hours, or to send me email: fred-rickey@usma.edu .

At a later time I will provide information about using the electronic resources available to you.

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If you have comments, send email to V. Frederick Rickey at fred-rickey@usma.edu .    File Posted 19 January 1998. Revised December 2008.