SFU Library Mathematics Collections Policy

The Department of Mathematics undergraduate program offers degrees in pure mathematics, applied and computational mathematics. The department also offers Master’s and Ph.D. degree programs.

The Department’s research areas are:

• Applied Analysis and Partial Differential Equations: areas of research include nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations, hyperbolic and parabolic evolution equations, variational problems, geometric mechanics, symplectic integration, asymptotic analysis, mathematical modelling, dynamical systems and chaos; with applications including materials science, control theory, mathematical finance and traffic flow.
• Computer Algebra: Simplification of algebraic formulae, polynomial factorization and polynomial GCD computation, symbolic summation and integration, Groebner bases and ideal theoretic computations, symbolic solution of algebraic, ordinary and partial differential equations, high precision numerical differentation and integration, numerical solution of analytic functions, numerical solution of ordinary and partial differential equations, recovery of formulae from floating point approxmations, visualization of graphs, eigenvectors, vector fields, etc., linear algebra over the integers and finite fields.
• Discrete Mathematics: graph theory, enumeration, bioinformatics, coding theory, optimization, graph minors, design theory, digital communication, comparative genomics, experimental mathematics, algorithms, geometry, operations research, combinatorics, generating functions, finite fields, matroids, asymptotics, graph colouring.
• Fluid Dynamics: theoretical and computational fluid dynamics spanning a wide variety of applied, analytic and numerical problems, including: low Reynolds number hydrodynamics, geophysical fluid dynamics, turbulent flows, convection, wave phenomena.  Applications include hydrogen fuel cells, particle suspensions, bio-fluid dynamics, porous media, atmospheric science.
• History of Mathematics: the historical origins and development of mathematical ideas and methods across the whole span of historical time and the whole range of societies, east and west, north and south. Research areas include: editing, translating (if necessary), and commentary on important mathematical texts, the development of areas of mathematics, such as modern analysis, the theory of differential equations, or geometrical projections, and a study of how the development of mathematics has affected, and been affected by, institutions (e.g. academic, religious, or scientific) or other humanistic or scientific aspects of human culture.
• Industrial Mathematics: Studying links between theoretical applied mathematics, numerical mathematics, and industry.
• Number Theory: the study of properties of integers and solutions to equations in integers, but now includes many other aspects, each with its own flavour and viewpoints. Broadly speaking, these can be divided into analytic, algebraic, Diophantine, and geometric aspects of number theory. Research in number theory today often involves knowledge and expertise from areas such as algebra, algebraic geometry, analysis, combinatorics, probability theory, representation theory, topology. Connections to applicable fields include coding theory and cryptography.
• Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing: level set methods, adaptive methods for PDEs, computational fluid dynamics, evolutionary PDEs, image processing, qualitative numerical methods for dynamical systems, nonlinear finite difference methods, linear and nonlinear algebraic equations, optimization problems, ordinary differential equations arising from PDE discretizations.
• Operations Research: continuous and discrete optimization, algorithms, approximation, convex and conic programming, finance and statistics.

Collection intensity

• 4 Research Level
  • A collection that contains the major published source materials required for doctoral study and independent research includes:
    • A very extensive collection of general and specialized monographs and reference works.
    • A very extensive collection of general and specialized periodicals.
    • Extensive collections of appropriate foreign language materials.
    • Extensive collections of the works of well-known authors as well as lesser-known authors.
    • Defined access to a very extensive collection of owned or remotely accessed electronic resources, including bibliographic tools, texts, data set, journals, etc.
    • Older material that is retained and systematically preserved to serve the needs of historical research.
  • International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. Section on Acquisition and Collection Development. (2001). Guidelines for a Collection Development Policy Using the Conspectus Model
• Collection development is the responsibility of the Mathematics Liaison Librarian.  Liaison with the Department is maintained through the Departmental Representative as well as with other faculty members when required.  Regular contact with other Liaison Librarians and teaching Departments is nurtured through the sharing of relevant review material.

SFU resources

The W.A.C. Bennett Library is the major location for the University’s mathematics collection.

Regional resources

The University of British Columbia also has a large mathematics collection comprehending many branches of the discipline.

Consortia and document delivery

• SFU belongs to three consortia:
  • Electronic Library Network;
  • Council of Prairie and Pacific University Libraries
  • Canadian Association of Research Libraries.
• Document delivery agreements exist with all three of these consortia which allow delivery of journals, articles and books from these libraries in a timely manner
• Holdings and direct requesting from another 40+ libraries are accessible through the Interlibrary Loan webpage and from many databases.
• SFU is also an partner in the Canadian Research Knowledge Network.

General collection guidelines

• Language: the emphasis is on the acquisition of materials in English.
• Treatment of subject: history of, practical, political, computer applications, statistical/mathematical, economics of, business/mgt/admin, legal aspects, social aspects, teaching of college or postgraduate level, general.
• Types of materials: collecting is split between monographs and journals with a preference for ordering online-only journals whenever possible.
• Date of publication:  emphasis is on current publications.  Retrospective acquisitions are normally only for the replacement of important titles which have deteriorated or disappeared.