University of Michigan - Flint

The overall evaluation for the mathematics portion of the University of Michigan-Flint library is very good. The current collection more than adequately supports the mathematics program offered by this institution.

The book collection has approximately 2,000 titles in the QA Library of Congress classification section. The median age of the collection falls in the 1970-74 category. This median age is not necessarily indicative of poor collection development or outdated material in the math discipline. Unlike other physical sciences, mathematical information does not become "dated".

The book collection was compared with 2 published list of core mathematics titles for an undergraduate collection: The Books for College Libraries, 3rd edition (1988) published by the American Library Association and Library Recommendations for Undergraduate Mathematics (1992) published by the Mathematical Association of America. The University of Michigan-Flint library has 82% of the titles listed in the Books for College Libraries and 68% of the essential titles listed in the Library Recommendations for Undergraduate Mathematics. As noted on the conspectus worksheets the weaker parts of the collection include probability theory, stochastic processes, mathematical statistics, operations research and mathematical modeling.

The 1997/1998 monographs allocation for the Mathematics Department is $2644. Taking a proportional share of librarians' budgets, plus the reference allocation, yields a weighted total of $3204. This is sufficient to buy approximately 75 books at a discounted average price of $42.58 apiece. This amounts to about 5% of the total domestic publishing output for mathematics, for an AC rating of 2b. Acquiring 10% of the publishing output per year would require a monographs allocation of $6642.

The journal collection represents the mathematics discipline very well. The Library subscribes to 7 of 20 Wilson-indexed mathematics journals (2b), and has Web access to 1 additional title. Only one additional title was recommended to add to the collection: Crux Mathematicorum.

Prepared by Prof. Kenneth E. Schilling, Kui-Bin Im, and Paul G. Streby.

Ratings for Mathematics CL=Current collection level; AC=Acquisitions commitment; GL=Goal level
LC class	Line no.	Category	CL	AC	GL	Comments
QA 1 - 74, 77 - 100, 163 - 299.5	MAT 001	Mathematics (General)	3b		3b
QA 9 - 10	MAT 007	Mathematical Logic	3b		2b
QA 150 - 162	MAT 043	Algebra (General)	3a		3b	Very good in linear algebra; poor in matrix theory; probability theory needs work; numerical analysis has many titles but lacks some important ones
QA 269 - 272	MAT 054	Game Theory, Games, Gambling	2b		2b
QA 273	MAT 055	Probability Theory	2b		3b	Needs work
QA 274	MAT 056	Stochastic Processes	2a		2b
QA 276 - 280	MAT 058	Mathematical Statistics	2a		3b
QA 297 - 299	MAT 060	Numerical Analysis	3a		3b	Many titles present, missing some important ones
QA 299.6 - 439	MAT 061	Mathematical Analysis (General)	3b		3b	Differential equations has many titles but lacks some important ones
QA 331 - 335	MAT 063	Theory of Functions	2a		2a
QA 370 - 381	MAT 064	Differential Equations, Differential Forms	3a		3b	Many titles present, missing some important ones
QA 385 - 387	MAT 065	Topological Groups/Lie Groups	3b		3b
QA 440 - 699	MAT 066	Geometry (General)	3b		3b
QA 564 - 608	MAT 067	Algebraic Geometry, Transformation, Correspondence	2b		2b
QA 440 - 699	MAT 069	Algebraic Topology	2a		2a
QA 440 - 699	MAT 070	Manifolds, Global Analysis	2a		2a
QA 440 - 699	MAT 071	Differential Geometry	2a		2a
	Non-WLN	Operations Research, Mathematical Modeling	3a		3b	Needs work
DIVISION AS A WHOLE			3a/ 3b	2b	3b

0 -- Out of scope

1 -- Minimal level
1a ---- Minimal level, uneven coverage
1b ---- Minimal level, even coverage

2 -- Basic information level
2a ---- Basic information level, Introductory
2b ---- Basic information level, Advanced (Appropriate for community college students)

3 -- Study or instructional support level
3a ---- Basic study or instructional support level (Adequate to support lower division undergraduate courses)
3b ---- Intermediate study or instructional support level (Adequate to support upper division undergraduate courses; not adequate for master's degree programs)
3c ---- Advanced study or instructional support level (Adequate to support master's degree programs)

4 -- Research level (Adequate to support doctoral research)

5 -- Comprehensive level