GENERAL STATEMENT

Description of Department and Programs

The Mathematics Department consists of eighteen faculty members including the Chair, George S. Shapiro.

Library Liaison: Dr. Attila Mate

The Department of Mathematics offers the following degree programs:

· B.A. Mathematics

· B.S. Mathematics

· B.S. Computational Mathematics

· M.A. Mathematics

· M.A. Mathematics ( Teachers )

· Ph.D., available only at the CUNY Graduate Center

Library Facilities:

The library maintains a collection of books, serials, government documents and electronic resources selected to provide curriculum and research support for the students and faculty of the Mathematics Department.

A. Funding:

The acquisitions budget varies from year to year, depending on general economic conditions and variations in New York State tax rates and tax collections.

General Approach to Materials Selection

Print and electronic materials are evaluated and selected using reviews published in:

· Choice

· Library Journal

· Booklist

· Various publishers catalogs

Online selection resources include:

· Books in Print

· World Cat

· Institute of Scientific Information Index

· Math-SciNet

Materials acquisitions are also dependent on the extensive expertise of the faculty. Typically, acquisition lists are presented to the librarian by the library liaison.

Books on the acquisition list are bench marked using the acquisitions of other colleges and universities and statistical citation analysis.

B. Level of Difficulty

Materials collected for the Mathematics Department will support mathematics education from the Baccalaureate to the Master of Arts degree In addition, materials collected support the mathematics portion of the computer science curriculum. Highly advanced materials, above the Master level are available at the CUNY Graduate Center.

C. Languages:

Materials are collected in English.

D. Format of Materials Collected:

All formats, print and electronic, will be considered with the following selection criteria in mind:

· Departmental need

· Budgetary considerations

· Cost savings

Electronic resources requiring a subscription for access as well as free electronic resources, will be evaluated for content that supports the mathematics curriculum. Items meeting educational and curriculum goals of the Mathematics Department will be added to the subject guide available at the Brooklyn College Library home page.

E. Duplication:

While it is the policy of the library not to order duplicate books, duplication will be considered on a case by case basis; particularly if a book is in high demand by the students and faculty members.

F. Selection Activity:

It has been suggested by many professional mathematicians that the amount of mathematics produced in the 21st century will eclipse the combined intellectual contribution of all mathematicians that have come before. When funds become available, the subject bibliographer will advise the library liaison of the amount and availability of the funds. Next, the library liaison will discuss departmental needs with the faculty. From this activity, an acquisitions list will emerge. Working closely with the library liaison, the subject bibliographer will submit the acquisitions list to the technical services department for order processing, cataloging, and delivery.

G. Weeding Policy:

The rate of information decay in the field of mathematics is less rapid than most scientific fields. Fundamental principles of algebra, geometry, calculus and statistics, understood centuries ago find application today. Therefore, weeding older books should be done with care. Books obviously worn by extensive use should be replaced as soon as possible. Journals and electronic materials will be evaluated against curriculum requirements. Those materials that meet curriculum needs will be retained.

Updated: April 10, 2002
Prof. James Castiglione