Library Support for Computer Science
January 14, 1999

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The library collections for Computer Science include an estimated 5600 titles, of which some 274 are currently-received serials. Most of this material is housed in the Sciences Library. Computer Science is interdisciplinary in nature. Engineering, Applied Mathematics, and Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences are all interested, to varying degrees, in aspects of Computer Science: Systems, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics. Therefore, actual support materials are distributed over a range of classifications.

Support for computer science has taken an increasing share of the library's financial resources, as is evident from the table below, showing the expenditures for the past three years.

According to the our Collection Development Policy Statement, the desired coverage in all aspects of the discipline is Research. This is a collection which includes the major source materials required for dissertation and independent research, including materials reporting new findings and scientific experimental results. It also includes all important reference works and a wide selection of specialized monographs, and an extensive collection of journals and major indexing & abstracting services. The Library has endeavored to achieve a Research level collection in most of the major areas of interest to Computer Science focusing primarily on robotics, systems, theory, and artificial intelligence. The Library intends to prepare a new Collection Development Policy which will more accurately reflect the needs of the Department and the University. A new interdisciplinary field is Biocomputation. New research subjects demand support and it will be necessary to include them in the new Collection Development Policy.

The Library does not have a networked abstracting and indexing tool specifically for Computer Science. However, in 1998, the Science Citation Index became widely available to library users through Web of Science. This will be very useful to Computer Science. Web Of Science includes source material back through 1988, but cited references go back much farther. In addition, the library is attempting to gain electronic access to the full text of electronic journals as they become available.

The weakness that we have in the coverage of Computer Science is the same as for the rest of science -- the high cost of the journal literature makes it difficult for the Library to get everything we might like. As the cost of our subscriptions has risen, we have almost nothing left to purchase books, which are still necessary. The Department has been willing to cancel some journals which they feel are no longer as useful, but we need to do this more regularly so we can free up funds for newer titles, as well as to simply keep within our budget. One can see from the table above how the prices of serials in this field have risen. In fact, the smaller rise in expenditures between 1995/96 and 96/97 can be attributed to the cancellation of several titles.

» Lori Jargo, Sciences Librarian
» William S. Monroe, Head, Collection Development