November, 1996

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Mathematics News Nancy Carter

Input For Seattle Requested Peggy Markham is planning the Mathematics Roundtable for the Seattle conference next June and recently queried subscribers to the PAMnet listserv for discussion topics. She has listed below the suggested topics. If you would like to add any, or comment on any of these possible topics, please contact Peggy. Also, please let Peggy know if you think we should invite mathematicians from colleges and universities in the Seattle area to attend and participate in our roundtable discussion? This idea was suggested at the meeting last year. Possible topics: Document delivery in mathematics Publisher relations Math in the former Soviet Union Web homepages Favorite reference tools, least favorite How to choose what goes to storage MathSciNet Electronic journals in math How do these affect research in mathematics? How are they changing library use patterns? How can these changes be documented? How are libraries handling full-text electronic journals (i.e., archiving, printing, canceling paper journals, etc.) Specifications for seamless access to mathematics information through the Web If we were designing, what specifications would we include? What usage statistics would we require? Marketing electronic journals and databases Designing an effective bibliographic instruction program Designing effective user surveys to determine how our users are getting the information that they need Delete List?? After hearing Wolfram's talk on Mathematica, Dana Roth wondered if anyone in the mathematics community has thought about a "delete" list for tables of mathematical functions? Do we, as librarians, need to keep all the old volumes that never seem to be used any more? Publications News Wiley Publications has announced that they will begin in early 1997 to make some of their print journals available online. The company plans to eventually make all journals available in this manner. At this time it is possible for subscribers to access the preprint server for Communications On Pure And Applied Mathematics (CPAM) on the Web.