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Collection Policy Statement Index
(Classes QA, TK5101-TK6720, TK7800-TK8360, and Z6651-Z6655)
Contents:
I. Scope
II. Research strengths
III. General policy and collecting intensity
I. Scope
This chapter of the Collections Policy Statement on Science and Technology covers the subclass QA, which includes mathematical logic, elementary mathematics, algebra, probabilities, mathematical statistics, numerical analysis, geometry, and analytic mechanics. A major subset, QA75.5-QA76.9, deals with the general theory and application of computers as well as electronic computers developed after 1945. Other works relating to computer technology are classified in TK5101-TK6720 which encompass telecommunications technology (including networks) and TK7885-TK7895, which includes works on the design of computer hardware and circuitry as well as hardware and electronics. The bibliography of mathematics is treated in subclasses Z6651-Z6655.
By recent count, over 91,000 serial and monograph titles fall into subclass QA, of which 24,500 are in QA75.5-QA76.9 alone. Over 4,400 additional titles are in TK. In terms of size, the collections in mathematics and computer science surpass those of any other libraries or research centers in the United States.
II. Research strengths
- General
- Areas of Distinction
The Library's mathematics and computer sciences collections are particularly strong in both foreign and English language materials, and in their current collecting intensity is primarily at the research or instructional support level. In mathematics particularly, a significant number of publications necessary for research are published in Russia, Japan, Europe, and developing countries. Over many years, the Library has received a steady influx of science-related titles, ranging from important to obscure, and resulting in a large number of foreign journal runs. Many of the cover-to-cover translations which are secured by the Library through the legal requirements of copyright deposit would otherwise have to be purchased at prohibitive expense, and hence may not be generally available elsewhere. As mathematics literature retains its research value for a long time, retrospective holdings are important.
The Library holds roughly 90 percent of the publications of the three major professional associations in the field of computer science: the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), which has a mathematical or theoretical orientation; the Society of Industrial and Applied Mechanics (SIAM), which has an engineering or applications orientation; and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Mathematics has long been a Russian specialty, and Russian mathematicians are considered to be among the best in the world. The Library is, therefore, fortunate to have an extensive collection of Russian mathematics journals and monographs.
The Library, in an effort to improve on current coverage and access not only to bibliographic citations but also to full text, makes available CD-ROMs, several of which are of great interest to the mathematics and computer science researcher. These include Computer Select, UMI Dissertation Abstracts, ERIC, INSPEC, NTIS, and IEEE Full Text. In addition, databases produced and supported by other institutions are made accessible through the Library, including materials produced by the National Library of Medicine and OCLC. The interconnection of resources between research institutions is extremely dynamic and changing, and the current operational philosophy at the Library is to be as flexible in this respect as practicable.
The Library holds important first editions of the works of many famous mathematicians and other landmark books in the field of mathematics. Among these are a copy of the first printed edition of Euclid's Elements, a work which has seen over a thousand editions. Archimedes' writings are represented by the Opera, quae quidem extant, omnia, of 1544, the first complete edition of his work. The Library has a 1561 edition of the most influential English textbook of the sixteenth century, an arithmetic by Robert Recorde entitled The Grounde of Artes. The Rare Book and Special Collections Division is rich in other important works of mathematicians such as Leonhard Euler, William Oughtred, and John Wallis. The Microform high end of the Reading Room (as well as the Science Reading Room) serves the ERIC reports which document teaching in mathematics and computer-assisted learning. The Microform Reading Room also has available the UMI dissertations.
Additionally, the Library has a significant collection of rare books on the history of data processing, as well as the personal papers of two giants in the field, Herman Hollerith and John von Neumann. These collections are complemented by seminal papers in the field of information theory that were first published as technical reports and are part of the Library's collections in that format.
III. General policy and collecting intensity levels for mathematics (Class QA)
The Library collects in this subject area on a worldwide basis, primarily at the Research Level (collecting intensity level 4) as defined by the Conspectus of the Research Libraries Group (RLG). For a complete definition of these levels, see the General Introduction to these statements. The following list is arranged according to the major subclasses of Class QA of the Library of Congress classification. The collecting intensity levels are numbered to conform with the RLG Conspectus.
| Class | Subject | Intensity | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| QA1 | Periodicals, societies, congresses, serial collections, yearbooks | 4 | |
| QA3 | Collected works (non-serial) | 4 | |
| QA5 | Dictionaries and encyclopedias | 4 | |
| QA7 | Addresses, essays, lectures | 3 | |
| QA8 | Philosophy of mathematics | 4 | |
| QA9-QA10.3 | Mathematical logic | 4 | |
| QA11-QA20 | Study and Teaching. Research | 3 | |
| QA21-QA29 | History and biography | 4 | |
| QA30.3-QA35 | Early works through 1800 | 4 | |
| QA36-QA39.2 | General works | 4 | |
| QA47-QA59 | tables | 4 | |
| QA75-QA76 | Computer science | 4 | |
| QA76.38 | Hybrid computers | 4 | |
| QA76.4 | Analog computers | 4 | |
| QA76.5 | Digital computers | 4 | Includes microcomputers, minicomputers, personal computers |
| QA76.6 | Programming | 4 | |
| QA76.7 | Programming languages | 4 | |
| QA76.75 | Software | 4 | |
| QA76.76 | Operating systems | 4 | |
| QA76.8 | Computer systems | 4 | Includes: fault-tolerant computing, interactive systems, virtual computer systems, distributed processing |
| QA76.9 | Other topics A-Z: algorithms, computers and civilization, computers and family | 4 | Includes: Database management; computer architecture; computer arithmetic; computers and civilization; economic and psychological aspects; computer literacy |
| QA76.9 | Computers and children | 4 | LC has primary RLG collecting responsibility |
| QA76.9 | Computer simulation | 4 | |
| QA76.9 | Computer standards, codes, specifications | 3 | |
| QA93-QA95 | Popular works, recreations | 3 | |
| QA101-QA141.8 | Elementary mathematics, arithmetic | 3 | |
| QA150-QA271 | Algebra | 4 | |
| QA273-QA274 | Probabilities | 4 | |
| QA276-QA280 | Mathematical statistics | 4 | |
| QA281-QA295 | Interpolation, sequences, series | 4 | |
| QA297-QA433 | Numerical analysis (calculus, theory of functions, differential equations, etc.) | 4 | |
| QA440-QA699 | Geometry | 4 | |
| QA801-QA939 | Analytic mechanics | 4 |
The following description of appropriate subclasses of TK is also in Chapter J Mechanical Engineering, Class TK, Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Nuclear Engineering and is repeated here for convenience in identifying collection levels for Computer Science.
| Class | Subject | Intensity | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| TK5101-TK6720 | Telecommunication (telegraph, telephone, radio, radar, television) | 4 | |
| TK7800-TK8360 | Electronics | 4 | |
| Z6651-Z6655 | Bibliography | 4 | General and special topics |