- Library Liaisons:
Mark_Shelton@brown.edu
- Departmental Library Representative (DLR):
- Description of the Academic Program |
Computer Science Departmental Home Page
The computer science department was officially founded in 1979 by faculty from the departments of
Applied Math and Engineering. Although it was part of the curriculum long before this, since its
founding, the department has continued to grow and expand into new areas of research, and is now
recognized as one of the leading programs in the country. The undergraduate program is designed to
combine educational breadth in the areas of software and theoretical computer science with deeper
understanding of specialized areas such as software system design, programming languages, machine
architecture, analysis of algorithms, theory of computation, computer graphics, and artificial
intelligence. The department offers undergraduate concentrations in the areas of mathematics and
computer science, applied mathematics and computer science, economics and computer science, and
computational biology.
Graduate students at Brown pursue research in analysis of algorithms, artificial intelligence,
combinatorial optimization, computational biology, computational complexity, computational geometry,
computer graphics, computer vision, computer-aided verification, concurrent data structures and
architectures, constraint programming, database systems, agents and E-commerce, graph drawing,
software engineering, and static analysis, nanotechnology, scientific visualization and scientific
computing, security and cryptography, theory of computation, theory of networking, internet computing,
mobile and ubiquitous computing, randomized algorithms and probabilistic analysis, robotics and
computer vision, and user interfaces and virtual reality. The advanced interdisciplinary nature of
the research connects computer science to the areas of engineering, medicine, biology, applied
mathematics, and cognitive science. In support of this research, the department runs following
research centers: the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Computer
Graphics and Scientific Visualization, the Center for Geometric Computing, and the Brown Laboratory
for Linguistic Information Processing. There are also research groups that focus on
Artificial Intelligence,
Computational Finance,
Computational Geometry,
Data Dissemination,
Graphics,
Programming Languages,
Software Visualization, and
Web Agents.
Database of Honors, Masters, and Ph.D Theses
- Overview of the Collection
The Computer Science Collection is an integrated part of the Sciences Collection. Consisting of over
5800 computer science titles and 6100 electrical engineering and computer engineering titles, of
which almost 300 are print and/or electronic seriels, the collection is very extensive in its
coverage of all fields of computer science/computer engineering. The interdisciplinary nature of
computer science allows it to benefit from many other science collections. Collections in
mathematics and applied mathematics, and engineering all contribute support to meet the needs of the
Department of Computer Science.
There are three major electronic resources that support research in computer science that are
available. MathSciNet is a comprehensive database covering the world's mathematical literature since
1940. It covers approximately 1700 current serials and journals in whole or in part. Zentralblatt MATH is the world's most complete and longest running abstracting and reviewing service in pure and
applied mathematics. The database contains more than 1.8 million entries drawn from more than 2300
serials and journals. Inspec, for computing and information technology, provides coverage from over
3,500 journals, 1,500 conference proceedings as well as numerous books, dissertations and reports.
In addition to these databases, Lecture Notes in Computer Science is also provided online.
Other electronic resources that provide support the interdisciplary areas of computer science include
Compendex for engineering, ACM
Digital Library for computer science. and Medline for medicine.
See Library support statement for Graduate Program Review for Computer Science
See Link to Brown University
Guide to Electronic Resources for Computer Science.
- General Collecting Guidelines
The mathematics collection is one of the premiere collections held by the Brown University
Libraries. It is a comprehensive collection that the library attempts to maintain at a RESEARCH
level. The library attempts to maintain a RESEARCH level collection in support of applied mathematics
as well. A RESEARCH level collection includes the major source materials required for dissertations
and independent research, including materials containing research reporting, new findings, scientific
experimental results, and other information useful to researchers. It also includes all important
reference works and a wide selection of specialized monographs, as well as a very extensive
collection of journals and major indexing and abstracting services in this field.
It is an important priority to acquire all important new publications in the field of applied
mathematics. All primary publishers in the field of applied mathematics are to be reviewed in order
to ensure that all works are evaluated. Except for lower level applied mathematics titles, all works
are acquired from publishers such as SIAM, the American Mathematical Society, MIT Press, Cambridge
University Press, Harvard University Press, Oxford University Press, Yale University Press,
Birkhauser, AK Peters, and Sage. Other publishers that should be heavilty evaluated include
Springer-Verlag, Wiley, Academic Press, Clarendon/Oxford, Kluwer, World Scientific and other
university presses. Consideration is given to works created by all noted authors and researchers in
applied mathematics.
- Specific Collecting Guidelines
- Language: English, original or in translation.
- Chronological Span: Primarily contemporary works.
- Imprint Date: Current imprints. As needed retrospective materials in support of research
needs, as well as to replace missing or damaged volumes, or to fill in identifiable gaps in the
collection. Occasional acquisition of out of print material.
- Geographical Range: Primarily United States, Europe, Asia, and India.
- Types of Material Included: Monographs, journals, proceedings, annuals, reference tools,
web resources, and dissertations. Very limited purchase of audio-visual materials. Excluded:
Textbooks, that focus on low level introductory computer science, and various software manuals that
are repetitive reproduced with each new version of the popular software.
- Areas of Distinction
The very broad based collection serves to cover many of the fields of computer science with
significant titles that cover many of the different programming languages. Brown has been acquiring
materials to support pure and applied mathematics since its founding, making the retrospective
collection quite strong. From very early works found in the Special Collections, to the most current
works published, the whole collection serves as an area of distinction. Of significance is the
coverage of titles published in Europe, especially those published during the late 1800's and the
first half of the 1900's. The collection currently holds all of the major titles published in all
fields of pure and applied mathematics.
- Special Collections
Lownes Collection of Significant Books in the History of Science contains over three-quarters
of those texts recognized by scholars as the "great books" of science published since the middle
of the 15th century. This collection is held at the John Hay Library
John Hay Library History of Science Collection is a major source for the history of mathematics.
- Breakdown of Subjects and Collecting
Levels
- New Computer Sciences
Titles Cataloged
- Related Collection Development Policies:
- Related Collections and Other Resources
Brown is a member of the Center for Research Libraries,
which "operates a global cooperative collection development program that assists academic and
research libraries in making otherwise inaccessible and important research materials permanently
available to scholars and researchers." CRL holds collections of international journals, newspapers
and dissertations. The resources of the Ivy League institution's libraries are also available to
Brown faculty and students via the
Borrow Direct service and the Virtual Catalog
makes the resources of the participating members of the Boston Library Consortium available upon request. For further
information, check with the Interlibrary Loan Office (Phone: (401) 863-2750; Email:
sci-ill@brown.edu
- Selected List of Key Internet Resources
Collection Development Footer
This page was last updated on: Friday, 22-Jun-2007 14:36:36 EDT.
© 2000, Brown University Library. All rights reserved.
You are the 2,645th visitor to this page.
