Mathematics News
Cindy Mader
Thanks for allowing me to moderate last year's Mathematics Roundtable and to share Mathematics News with you this year as well. It has been a pleasure! Michael Golden and Nisa Bakkalbasi will be moderating the Mathematics Roundtable in Toronto and therefore you will be hearing from them in this column in May.
IMS Journal Articles Move to Open Access
The Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS) journals moved to open access in 2004. Journal articles from 2004 on will be made available through arXiv (http://arxiv.org/). Older issues are still available to subscribers and IMS members through Project Euclid and JSTOR.
MathSciNet Matters
The Notices of the AMS have added a new column titled MathSciNet Matters to provide periodic updates on the database. See http://www.ams.org/notices/200501/comm-mathscinet.pdf for the first column in the November 2004 issue.
Mathematics Genealogy Project
Liz Bryson reported in December that the Mathematics Genealogy Project is underway with ambitions to "compile information about ALL the mathematicians of the world." More information about the project is available at http://www.genealogy.math.ndsu.nodak.edu/.
In Memoriam
Paula Shanks, acquisitions librarian at Mathematical Reviews, passed away unexpectedly in December. Bert TePeske-King posted the following remembrance of her career and friendship:
"Paula, who earned her MLS from the University of Michigan, began working at Math Reviews in 1983, starting as a clerical doing author authority work, moving to the Copy Editing department (and assuming a role as supervisor there), then joining me in Bibliographic Services as acquisitions librarian in 1993.
Paula, with her staff, was responsible for acquistions, claims, and bibliographic data entry, a huge task here at Math Reviews. She was also instrumental in providing and maintaining data for both the AMS journals pricing project and journal-level linking in MathSciNet.
I also know that she answered questions about MR acquistions and holdings from members of PAMnet and from colleagues around the world.
She was my best friend and best sounding-board at Math Reviews, and a colleague valued and respected by all here. She will be deeply missed.
Review of Using the Mathematics Literature
Dana Roth provides the following review of Using the Mathematics Literature:
"As a "chemistry" librarian, I am obviously not qualified to give a complete review of Using the Mathematics Literature, edited by Kristine K. Fowler. However, I would like to express my appreciation and admiration for the excellent introduction she (and Molly White) provided in Part I (Tools and Strategies).
Kristine offers a very informative and instructive introductory chapter on the "Mathematics Culture", which is followed by a chapter on "Tools & Strategies for Finding Mathematics Information." Molly White's chapter on "Tools and Strategies for Searching the Research Literature" completes Part 1.
The chapter on "Mathematic Culture" certainly helped this librarian develop a new appreciation for the unique world of mathematicians and the recurrent themes in mathematics. Writing vs doing, creativity vs deduction, beauty, art vs science, pure vs applied, truth, discovery vs invention are a sample of the topics developed. Kristine also provides an extensive list of both print and online resources for further reading.
The second and third chapters provide an annotated listing of basic works that all science librarians should become familiar with.
Kristine's chapter is especially helpful, with sections covering common reference questions, such as: definitions, finding tables of integrals, biographical information, interpreting references, finding English translations, finding/verifying quotations & anectodes, and recreational mathematics.
Molly White's chapter is an excellent review of the various online and print indexes, followed by a discussion of web based resources and current projects and concluding with examples of how to find a specific reference.
These three chapters should be essential reading for all science librarians."
For Fun
The new CBS Show, Numb3rs, is built around the premise of how two brothers, one an FBI agent, the other a mathematical genius, work together to solve crimes. According to the CBS web site, the show "depicts how the confluence of police work and mathematics provide unexpected revelations and answers to the most perplexing criminal questions" at http://www.cbs.com/primetime/numb3rs/about.shtml#.
maderc@lib.muohio.edu
