Mathematics & Statistics: Finding Books

To find books and government documents in USA Libraries' collections, use SOUTHcat: USA Libraries' Catalog.

• Catalog tips and tricks:
  • Keyword searches – use quotation marks to hold phrases together ("linear algebra")
  • Truncation – use ? after the root of a word to find all its variants (math? finds math, maths, mathematics...)
  • Browse the Subject(s) field in records to find the right words for searches. (Example: Try doing a keyword search for math? history then look at the subject(s) field in several records. You’ll see that the subject term is "Mathematics -- History." Click the subject heading to find more records with this subject.)
• Revise and refine your searches.
• Watch for repeating call numbers and browse stacks in that area.
• Pay attention to the Location and Status fields. You will need this information to locate the item in the library. The Location field will also tell you whether or not a book can be checked out. A book that's shelved in Marx Library Reference cannot usually be checked out, while one in Marx Library Bookstacks can.

The Marx Library owns a number of electronic books. You can search SOUTHcat (Springer and some ebrary titles are in the catalog) for titles, subjects or keywords, or you can go to the native interface for these books. The following vendors are most useful for Math and Statistics.