Mathematics - Natural Sciences Library: Home

The MNS Library

Emma C. Moore headshot photo
Andrea Kane/ Institute For Advanced Study

I Am: Emma C. Moore (Librarian, Mathematics and Natural Sciences) 

Find Me: Fuld Hall, Room 211 

Call Me: 609-734-8181

Email Me: emoore [at] ias [dot] edu

When?  Mondays-Fridays, 8:00AM-4:30PM

Main Library (Math Stacks): Fuld Hall, 2nd Floor

Astrophysics Library: Bloomberg Hall, Room 240

Physics Library: Bloomberg Hall, Room 201

Journal and Book Storage: Basement, Historical Studies- Social Sciences Library; Basement, Fuld Hall (staff only); Off-Site Storage (staff only)

When? 24 hours, 7 days a week, with your valid and active IAS ID card.

Books and Journals

The library contains about 30,000 volumes of bound periodicals and monographs, plus current print and electronic subscriptions to about 140 periodicals. The areas covered by the library collection are pure and applied mathematics, astrophysics, theoretical particle and mathematical physics and biology. The library adds approximately 180 new books annually to the collection. Its collection of older periodicals is housed in compact shelving on the lower level of Historical-Social Sciences library.

Collected Works

The library specifically collects extensively in the area of collected and selected works volumes in mathematics and physics, which you'll find in the Landing Stacks across from the main Fuld Hall Library.

Digital Resources

While using the campus network, the IAS community has access to the majority of Princeton University's digital subscriptions in mathematics, physics and biology. This includes e-book collections. The Mathematics-Natural Sciences Library has access to Math-Sci Net Online , PROLA, and  the JSTOR backfiles of multiple core Mathematics journals.

Collection Development Policy

The Mathematics-Natural Sciences Library is supervised by the IAS MNS Library Committee. This committee of faculty assists the Librarian in developing and maintaining the collections in mathematics, physics, and biology. The MNS library policy is hosted on the ALBERT repository here.

Items At Other Libraries

As a affiliate of the Institute, you possess faculty library privileges at the Princeton University Libraries (the most extensive collections are found at the Lewis Library & the Harvey S. Firestone Memorial Library); at the Princeton Theological Seminary's Robert E. Speer Library; and access to IAS's Interlibrary Loan services. See Finding Things at Princeton University and Finding Things At Other Libraries for more.

Community Donations

The librarians and the Faculties of all four Schools at the Institute warmly appreciate gifted items from former and current Members of the Institute. Please consult the Collection Development Policy for further details.

The MNS Library is, above all, a 'house library'.

Privileges: Borrowing privileges are extended to faculty, members, visitors and staff of the Institute for Advanced Study with a valid IAS ID card.  Visiting scholars, with prior authorization, may consult books in the library reading room.

The goal is that the collection should be accessible to as many members of the IAS community as possible. Therefore, borrowed IAS items should not be taken off of the IAS campus ; and  items must be easily retrievable on demand. We strongly prefer that items be kept if your on-campus office, if at all possiblePlease notify the Librarian if you wish to transfer, or take possession of, a book that has already been signed out to a specific member. 

Check-Out: Borrowers should sign and date two book cards found on the inside back cover of the book, or bound periodical. Books may be signed out after hours, but the cards should always be placed in the location's designated box, to be filed by Library staff.  

Returns: All books must be returned to Fuld Hall before a Member's last day at the Institute; you'll be contacted approximately 1-2 weeks prior to your scheduled departure date. If you leave early, please make arrangements to return your books at that time, or find alternate means of returning them.

Renewal: An inventory is performed at the end of each academic year (June-July), and so all books must be either be a) returned at that time or b) confirmed by photograph or in person for the following academic year.

Short-Term Visitors: Visitors and students who have access to office space may also borrow books; or alternately sign items out to the office of their collaborator/sponsor; however, recalls and transfers of items from other Members must be negotiated by the student's Sponsoring Member or Faculty supervisor.

Computer – Photocopier – Scanner: A photocopier and a HP digital scanner are available in the Landing Stacks area.  For catalog searching and other use, the library provides a PC and printer in the main reading room.

Finding Things Here

Searching:

IAS Library Catalog- MNS Home

The catalog contains all book titles in the collection,  and most of the journal titles. 

New Books

All newly received books are also in the online catalog.  To borrow a new book, speak to a librarian! 

We also maintain a card catalog in the main reading room with author, title and series cards for every book. 

Browsing:

The library uses the Library of Congress Classfication systems for the majority of our items, and they are generally located as follows-

Books:

QA1, QC1, QB 3, QA3, QC3:  Collected Works and ConferencesLanding Stacks, Fuld Hall, 2nd Floor Stairwell

B824 .6 – QA274 :  Fuld Hall, 2nd Floor Corridor

QA274 -QA999: Fuld Hall, Main Reading Room

QB6-QB999Astrophysics LibraryBloomberg Hall, Room 240

QC6–QC174.86.N65: Fuld Hall, Main Reading Room  

QC174.86.N65-Z6655 (Physics): Physics Library, Bloomberg Hall, Room 201

Selected QH1-QH999 and others: Seminar Room, Simons Center for Systems Biology

Journals:

A  periodicals list may be found on the Library’s web page, and is also available in paper in the library. 

Current Issues- Unbound periodical issues are currently arranged in alphabetical order by title in Room 202 (Secure Stacks) of Fuld Hall.  Please contact the Librarian for assistance.

Recent Bound Journals (1940/1980 onwards): Historical Studies-Social Science Library, Basement Compact Shelving

Also includes some monographic series, such as Lecture Notes in MathematicsAsterisque and Proceedings of Symposia in Pure and Applied Mathematics. Please refer to the online catalog for individual item locations.

Historical Bound Journals (Pre-1940); Inactive journals in Physics and Astrophysics: Off-site storage- please contact the Librarian.

 

Finding Things at Princeton University

Lewis Library

The Lewis Science Library of Princeton University supports research in Astrophysics, Biology, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics,  and other science disciplines. Through an agreement with Lewis, books and periodical articles owned there may be requested through MNS Library staff, either by telephone (x8181);  by e-mail; or by filling out the form found on our web page. Due dates and any use restrictions will be provided upon pickup from Fuld Hall. From Monday-Friday, we will attempt to fulfill requests as quickly as possible. Books borrowed from the University library may also be returned through the Mathematics-Natural Sciences Library.

RECAP

MNS Library Staff can also assist you in obtaining select items stored by the Research Collection And Preservation (RECAP) off-site library.  Please submit these requests through the Lewis Library form, noting the catalog information if possible.

Firestone Library

The HS-SS library staff provide multiple services for items location at the Harvey S. Firestone Memorial Library.

Individual Princeton University Library Accounts

IAS Members and Visitors also may acquire a personal library card, for onsite access to the research collections at Princeton University Libraries. Please note that the set-up process has recently changed due to COVID-19 restrictions; contact the Librarian for further information.

For digital access to PUL e-journals and databases, you must either connect from a IAS campus computer or wi-fi network ( http://library.princeton.edu/); 
or, while  off campus, use an IAS Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection.

Finding Things At Other Libraries

Both of the Institute's libraries participate in the shared cataloguing system of the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), giving Institute scholars computerized access to WorldCat. This online catalog searches the holdings of thousands of particpating libraries, and provides the location of  or access method for over 22 million items in multiple formats.

For books and journal articles not accessible through the IAS Libraries or Princeton, all members of the IAS community can  request them through Interlibrary loan (other than from Lewis Library at Princeton University). This is available to faculty, members, visitors and their spouses and companions.  Users can request materials on interlibrary loan by using either the online form from our website or by e-mail or telephone.