Q:  As a Mathematics subject specialist contributing to the new Resources for College Libraries, what aspect of mathematics publishing do you feel has changed the most since 1988?

A:  Publishing has had to respond to major changes in the secondary and post-secondary mathematics curriculum, with traditional geometry becoming relatively less important while discrete math and math applications in the life sciences have become much more important. There’s also been a rise in books on math topics for a popular audience.

Q:  There have been so many technology advances since 1988, how has this impacted the material published on mathematics?

A:  Many math books have supplementary material (either on a disc or a website) to take advantage of the computations and simulations offered by mathematics software packages such as Mathematica or Matlab. Such computing functionality has also facilitated the development of experimental mathematics -- itself the topic of several books and journals.

Q:  Would you consider any one major advancement in the field of mathematics as standing out above the rest?

A:  Certainly the most famous advance in recent years was Wiles’s proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem in 1995. Besides the drama of solving a centuries-old problem, his proof and the related work of others contributed important insights into the connections between widely different areas of mathematics.

Q:  How many new subject categories, would you guess, have evolved under the heading of mathematics since 1988?

A:  The most recent version of the Mathematics Subject Classification, which is used to categorize the research literature, shows only 3 broad subject categories added between the 1991 and 2000 revisions: Dynamical Systems and Ergodic Theory; Game Theory; and Mathematics Education. These topics had obviously existed before, but their promotion to major-heading status shows their increased importance. There are over 1000 new codes at the more specific level, such as Complex Manifolds.

Q:  What are the challenges that you face tackling such a high-growth segment of academic literature?

A:  It’s very difficult to select so few titles out of so many available! Of course I try to identify the best ones, but I also need to keep a balance so that all the necessary subject areas are covered, for readers of different levels. In some areas of mathematics the basic theory has been long established, so “classic” books may still be the best resources; but in other areas, like computational geometry or mathematical biology, the focus should be quite recent.

Q:  Can you give us 3 must-have titles that you feel every library should carry in this subject?

Singh, Fermat's Enigma: the Epic Quest to Solve the World’s Greatest Mathematical Problem. New York: Walker, 1997.

Courant, Richard and Robbins, H. What is Mathematics? New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1941.

Martin Gardner, Mathematical Games: The Entire Collection of his Scientific American Columns [CD-ROM] Mathematical Association of America, 2005, ISBN: 0-88385-545-3.

Q:  What has this project brought to you, personally and/or professionally, that you did not anticipate?

A:  I realized how opinionated I am about the mathematics literature! I hadn’t expected to feel so strongly -- always with good reasons, of course -- that certain titles should or shouldn’t be included.

Q:  What is your favorite ice cream flavor?

A:  Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk.

Q:  Where did you go to library school?

A:  University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.

Q:  How many titles have been selected thus far for your subject area?

A:  About 700.

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