Kathy Abbott, Subject Librarian Engineering

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QMUL School of Mathematical SciencesMSc and MSci
project studentsWorkshop on finding information
at Queen MaryMarch 2009

• Finding books at (1) Queen Mary, (2) at other
  London colleges, and (3) at the British Library,
  St Pancras
• Finding books in print (available to buy)
• Finding papers in periodicals (also called
  journals, magazines) electronically and in
  printed form
• Your Student Service login as your Athens
  username, for off campus access to electronic
  information resources
• Using information databases to find papers in
  periodicals, e.g. MathSciNet, ADS, Web of Science
  (Science citation index)

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Finding information at Queen Mary 2

• Formats for listing your references in your
  bibliography
• Finding periodicals at Queen Mary and at other
  London colleges using Union List of Serials
  (periodicals)
• Finding periodicals at British Library, St
  Pancras, London
• Inter-Library Loans Service for loans of books
  and photocopies of papers in periodicals

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Kathy Abbott, Subject Librarian (Mathematics)

• Please try asking me subject questions -
  electronic mail or phone is more effective than
  trying to find me
• Send me an e-mail. k.j.abbott_at_qmul.ac.uk
• If you need to see me, suggest a few times for an
  appointment. I will confirm the date, time and
  place to meet
• Ask general questions at the Help Desk on the
  Ground Floor, or use ask a librarian on the
  Library web page
• Lots of information on the Web, and Finding
  Information guides. Dont be afraid to ask!
  Please interrupt me!

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Help Desk on Main Library Ground Floor
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Group Study space

• If you need to discuss your work with your
  colleagues, use the group study areas in the Main
  Library
• The study area on the Ground Floor
• Group Study Room 2 on the 2nd floor book it
  with the Library Reception Team at the Library
  Entrance
• The Hive/Level One group study area, first floor
  near bookshop, open 0800 - 2000
• Some group study seats in the Peoples Palace
  foyer

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To pay for photocopying

• Copy charges A4, 4p A3, 8p
• 12 copiers at Main Library 1 colour copier
• Change machines on Ground Floor they change
  notes into 1 coins
• Use the grey revaluation kiosk to top up your
  credit balance
• Copiers will do reductions, enlargements, and
  double sided copying
• Show the barcode on your Student card to the
  barcode scanner on each copier

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To Ground Floor photocopiers, change machines and
revaluation kiosk
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Revaluation kiosk to add credit for photocopying
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To pay for printing on Computing Services Student
Service

• You receive an initial free allocation of 100
  pages
• To top up your print credit, purchase scratch
  cards
• Available from vending machines at Main Library
  (1 5 cards)
• Enter your details the scratch card number on
  the Computing Services print credit top-up web
  page
• The web page can be accessed from Library
  catalogue terminals, QM Student Service
  computers, and Computing Services web pages
• http//quota.stu.qmul.ac.uk/cgi-bin/balance/acbala
  nce.pl

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Scratch card vending machines
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Different formats for information

• Talking to and communicating with experts and
  other people
• Books - textbooks and research monographs
• Postgraduate theses (plural of thesis) (UK) /
  dissertations (USA)
• Conference papers (symposia - is plural of
  symposium, meetings)
• Papers/articles in periodicals (also called
  journals, magazines)
• Handbooks, encyclopedias
• Web pages, web archives of papers

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Formulating your subject questions

• ask an expert, if you can find one
• consider what you really need to know
• think about keywords to describe your subject
• controlled vocabulary - selected keywords for
  the subject area
• or a classification scheme, e.g. Mathematics
  Subject Classification for papers in MathSciNet
• US Library of Congress classification for library
  books
• classification of astronomical objects
• think about synonyms (different words which mean
  the same) e.g. computer algebra, algebra of
  computation cosmic dust, interstellar dust
• consider American/English terminology

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Finding information Mathematical Sciences web
page

• From Student Service home page
• click The Library, your subject, Mathematical
  Sciences http//www.library.qmul.ac.uk/eng/infopag
  es/mathwww.htm
• Please bookmark this web page
• Or, if I logged you in, to find it for this
  workshop, click Bookmarks, select Finding
  information Maths
• your feedback and suggestions are really welcome
• You can search the Library catalogue from any
  computer on the Internet

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Queen Mary Library catalogue (1)

• Please bookmark the Finding Information web page
• Click Library catalogue, select Main Library
• Demonstration of search by Author AND Title
• Look for a book by Cameron, Introduction to
  algebra
• Roy, Orbital motion
• Key cameron and algebra
• or roy and motion
• click Guided search. Use Word or phrase (not
  subject). You search for the beginning of a word
  plus any ending, e.g. chaos fractal
  gravitational wave solar system dynamic
  (Wildcard symbol is ?, e.g. organi?ation). You
  can combine different fields with Boolean logic
  AND, OR, NOT

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QA162 is the classmark, the place where we look
on the shelvesCAM is the 3 letter shelving
codeUnited States Library of
Congressclassification scheme for books
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QA books
Main Library First Floor
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Obtaining a Short Loan Collection copy

• Note the author, title and classmark
• Go to the Issue Counter on the Ground Floor
• Ask for the book by the author, title and
  classmark (write it on a piece of paper if you
  like)
• One day loan, or over the weekend

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Ground Floor Issue Counter
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Booking an SLC copy in advance

• You can book a copy of a book kept in the Short
  Loan Collection in advance, for the day you want
  to borrow it
• Find the book in the Library catalogue
• Use Book SLC Loan
• Then you can plan your work in advance

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Returning a Short Loan Collection copy

• Return the book to the Issue Counter, and make
  sure it is properly discharged from your name
• When the Issue Counter is closed, you may return
  books by posting them through the letter box to
  the left of the green doors
• The letter box is called the Out of hours book
  return

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Library Square, Main Library North side entrance
- you may return items here when the Issue
Counter is closed
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Out- of-hours book return
Library Square, Main Library North side entrance
- you may return items here when the Issue
Counter is closed
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Short Loan link, at top of screen

• Short Loan Collection by course code and course
  name
• Key MAS and click on Course code to see all
  courses for School of Mathematical Sciences
• Not all recommended textbooks have a copy in the
  SLC
• If you think a copy of a book should be in the
  SLC and it is not, please use ask a librarian
  on Library web page
• If you think that the Library does not have
  enough copies of a book, please use ask a
  librarian

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Placing a Hold on a book which is on loan to
other users

• If all items are On loan, all the Librarys
  copies of a book are out on loan to other users
• You must place a Hold click the Place Hold
  button
• Then the Library will send an e-mail to the
  people who have the book On loan
• They must then return the book to the Library
  Issue Counter on the Ground Floor
• Then the Library will send you an e-mail, saying
  you can collect the copy from the Issue Counter
  on the Ground Floor

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Sometimes, the catalogue says that a copy of a
book is Available for loan, that is, NOT on
loan But when you look on the shelves, you
cannot find it. Someone may be looking at it in
the Library, it may be awaiting shelving Please
DONT GIVE UP! Fill in a green Missing Item
Reservation card and hand the card in at the
Issue Counter on the Ground Floor
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Green Missing Item Reservation cards
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Library catalogue Self Service(1) Change PIN,
to a number you can remember more easily(2)
Check your Loans, Holds and Bookings. Cancel SLC
bookings(3) Renew books over the Internet or by
phone6 times for One Week Loan copies and 3
times for Ordinary Loan copies ( extend the
loan, after the date it is Due back to the
Library), if no one else has placed a Hold,
before you need to carry the books into the
Library. Then, when maximum no. of self-service
renewals reached, at the Issue Counter, please
say Please may I renew this book?
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Queen Mary Library periodicals

• Look for the title of whole periodicals
  (journals, magazines) in the e-journals
  (Electronic journals) list
• J. algebra
• Journal Amer. Math.
• Astrophys.
• Class. Quant. Grav
• Click qm S sfx symbol on right hand side
• Separate records for printed and electronic
  versions in the Library catalogue
• Periodicals before 1980 may be in a store on
  campus - you must request with Library catalogue
  Self Service web form or paper blue form. Years
  before 1960 are in one Bay, years 1961 - 1969 are
  in another Bay, etc

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Study Skills
Main Library First Floor
Maths and Physics periodicals, around Bay 200
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Important electronic collections

• JSTOR wonderful resource of very long back runs
  of important maths and statistics periodicals.
  All titles are included in the e-journals list
  and the Library catalogue
• ADS Astrophysics Data System, provided by NASA,
  long backruns of Astro periodicals. The latest
  few years are not included in ADS. QM often pays
  for electronic access to the latest years
• ACM Digital Library - Association for Computing
  Machinery. Periodicals included in the Electronic
  journals list and the Library catalogue. ACM
  conferences are not included in the Library
  catalogue, we do have access

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Catalogues of other libraries. Also Bookshops,
www.amazon.co.uk for books in print

• click the Catalogues of other libraries link
• University College London includes the London
  Mathematical Society collection. If you are a
  member of LMS, you may borrow from UCL.
• Reference only use of these libraries - you may
  not borrow
• Imperial College
• Kings College London
• British Library Integrated Catalogue includes
  British Library St Pancras London and British
  Library Document Supply Centre, Boston Spa,
  Yorkshire

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British Library Integrated Catalogue,for St
Pancras, London

• Back to Catalogues of other libraries link,
  click British Library Integrated Catalogue link.
• To search for the beginning of a word, use ?. In
  Title or Subject fields key comput? algebra?
  or solar system? dynamic? or your own subject
• Shelfmark is where you find it/ask for it at the
  British Library. DSC means Document Supply Centre
  at Boston Spa, Yorkshire, North of England, not
  at St Pancras in London
• (B) for books, (P) for periodicals open access
  in Science reading rooms at British Library, St
  Pancras
• Many books on closed access. You must request
  them. You may order in advance on the catalogue
  when you have a reader pass
• YK2000.a.7991 is special shelfmark not on open
  access. In fact, kept at British Library Document
  Supply Centre, Boston Spa, North of England. So
  books take two days to arrive at British Library,
  St Pancras, London

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Athens authentication and authorisation scheme
for some electronic journals off campus,
information databases other electronic
information sources

• UK national scheme
• Some databases/sources, e.g. MathSciNet do not
  require any username (check IP address of
  workstation). You can only access MathSciNet from
  a campus workstation, or using the proxy server
• For many resources off campus, e.g.Web of Science
  (Science citation index) (indexes to papers in
  periodicals) and electronic journals, you need an
  Athens username
• You use your Student/Teaching Service login ID as
  your Athens username
• On the Information Databases link, click QMUL
  Athens Login page, click Set Athens Home
  Institution, then on the next page, click Go to
  the Queen Mary, on each web browser you use, on
  campus and off campus

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Finding information in periodical articles/papers

• MathSciNet - excellent database, mathematicians
  first source
• Web of Science (WoS) Citation indexing available
• ADS (NASA Astrophysics Data System) includes
  scanned in full text of many important periodical
  titles, conference proceedings and even books.
  Its brilliant

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Searching MathSciNet

• Finding information Maths web page
• Information databases link
• Subject Information Databases for Undergraduate
  and Masters students link
• Click MathSciNet
• Use Authors tab
• best format is last name, first initial
• key wehrfritz, b
• qm S sfx link helps you find the full text of the
  paper

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Three important questions for an information
database

• (1) Where is any controlled vocabulary? List of
  preferred keywords, or a classification scheme
• (2) How do I combine concepts? with the Boolean
  logic OR or the Boolean logic AND. (More
  sophisticated rankings of relevance and fuzzy
  logic will be available in the future - at
  present nearly all information databases use
  simple Boolean logic, plus restricting to main
  focus of papers)
• Most subjects are quite complex SGDs with
  doubly transitive automorphism group. You need
  to consider breaking down the subject into
  separate searches, and combining the results of
  the separate searches with Boolean logic AND, OR

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Third important question for an information
database

• If Controlled vocabulary doesnt work for you,
• CONSIDER UNCONTROLLED VOCABULARY
• (NATURAL LANGUAGE)
• think about
• synonyms (different words which mean the same)
• singular and plural dynamo, dynamos
• nouns and verbs intermittency, intermittently
• American and English terminology
  characterization, characterisation
• what is the symbol for right hand truncation?
• e.g algebra algebra? algebra algebra

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MathSciNet subject search using Controlled
vocabulary Classification

• Consider searching for Cofinitary permutation
  groups
• Use Free Tools tab. Search MSC tab - is
  Mathematics Subject Classification 2000
• http//www.ams.org/mathscinet/searchmsc
• Using the drop down arrow by Select Mathematics
  Subject Classification, select 20, to investigate
  Group theory and generalizations
• click 20B, to search for Permutation groups
• Doesnt seem to help for cofinitary

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Boolean logic AND

• Papers on algebra
• Papers on comput?

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Web of Science (WoS) (Science citation index)

• Online index to wide range of scientific
  periodicals. Very interdisciplinary, plus
  citation indexing
• from 1970, updated weekly
• papers enter WoS very quickly - its very
  up-to-date because there is no intellectual
  subject indexing
• 100 UK institutions subscribe
• I advise you to use ADS, MathSciNet for most
  subject searching

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Web of Knowledge includes Web of Science (Science
citation index) for citation searching
interdisciplinary searching click Bookmarks,
Finding information click Information databases,
appropriate link Find Web of Science click the
link Click ISI Web of Knowledge No login
necessary on campus Consider registering, to use
more features click Web of Science yellow tab You
may wish to check ONLY the box to the left
of Science Citation Index Expanded See Training
and Support
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Use Analyze Results

• Search for papers by Prof Shaun Bullett, or
  someone you are interested in
• Use Author Finder
• Use Analyze Results on LHS to investigate, e.g.
  Source Title, Publication Year

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WoS citation searching

• We search for later citations to Prof Peter
  Camerons paper in Proceedings of the London
  Mathematical Society, Sep. 1997, vol. 75, part 2,
  pp436-480
• We look for papers which include, in the list of
  references at the end of the paper, Prof.
  Camerons paper
• click Cited Reference Search tab
• For Cited Author, you can click on the magnifying
  glass to use the search aid, search
• cameron p (Prof Camerons initials are PJ)
• Its not usually necessary to put in the source
  (the title of the whole periodical) unless your
  author has a common name many authors do not
  write many papers in any one year
• If you do try, use the journal abbreviation list
  provided
• In the Cited Year(s) box, key 1997
• click Search

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Citations to Peter Camerons paper

• Where you see View Record in blue, records are
  available as full references in the database. The
  periodical is indexed
• Other works are not in the database (periodical
  not indexed in the database, too old, books,
  conference papers, in process, mistakes)
• means that Prof. Cameron is not the first named
  author
• note that the two references to DISCRETE MATH are
  probably to the same paper - there is no editing
  of the references in this database
• check the box to the left of the paper in P LOND
  MATH SOC
• click Finish Search to find articles that cite
  selected references, the one you checked

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WoS citation searching

• the most recent reference is listed first. You
  can click any blue link to see the reference and
  abstract of the citing paper
• Cited References is the number of papers cited at
  the end of the paper
• investigate this yourself - you should note the
  periodical title, date and pages, because Peter
  is not the first named author of this paper, and
  you will not be able to see his name
• Try Analyze Results on LHS to investigate results
• Not now, but remember to Log Out at the end of
  your searches to leave a slot free immediately
  for another user

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References (citations) to papers in your project

• Mathematicians are advised to copy the London
  Mathematical Society journals
• Mathematicians need the title of the paper, and
  the first AND LAST page numbers
• Even if the usual practice when writing for a
  certain periodical is NOT to cite the title or
  the last page number, this information is useful
  for your own private records
• Astro people are advised to copy the format used
  in Astrophysical journal or Monthly notices of
  the Royal Astronomical Society
• You can cut and paste from MathSciNet. If you
  dont need to use BibTeX, EndNote Web
  bibliographic software is available as an option

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Finding periodicals in London (1)

• Use Union List of Serials (periodicals/journals)
• From the Catalogues of other libraries link
• Search for Monatshefte fur Mathematik or a title
  you are interested in

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Finding periodicals in London (2)

• If not available in a college library in London,
  try the British Library Integrated Catalogue
• From the Catalogues of other libraries link
• click British Library Integrated Catalogue,
  Search the Integrated Catalogue
• Unfortunately, you cannot search only for
  periodicals in the London catalogues. This can
  cause problems with short titles

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Queen Mary Inter-Library Loans Service (ILL)

• If you really need a few important items for
  your project, and they are not available in any
  London library, ask your supervisor for
  permission to request them on ILL. Contact me by
  e-mail, and ask for a paper ILL request form to
  fill in
• If you use the QM Inter-Library Loans Service, we
  usually apply to the British Library Document
  Supply Centre, Boston Spa, Yorkshire
• Inter-Library Loans (loans of books and
  photocopies of periodical papers) can be
  available when you work after you leave QM
• ILL loans of books currently charged at 10 each
  to the School (about 2 extra to renew a loan),
  photocopies of papers at 7. It costs the Library
  more

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School of Mathematical Sciences MSci and MSc
Maths students Finding information at Queen
Mary a workshop, March 2009This PowerPoint
available on the web via the Information guides
and information skills training link
Feedback and comments about this workshop are
very welcome k.j.abbott add _at_qmul.ac.uk to
complete the address Version 12 19 March
2009 mathmsc.ppt