COLLECTIONS:

Special Collections

University Archives

Collection Preservation

Research Collections:
Physics Collection

Collection Overview
The aim is to build a collection that  meets the needs and requirements of research and teaching faculty in the Physics Department, graduate (doctoral and master's) and undergraduate students, and the general interests of the Boston College community.

Research in the Physics Department revolves around two themes: theoretical and experimental.

Theoretical research covers plasma instabilities in lower dimensional solid state systems; nanostructures and quantum dots for ultrafast computing; collective phenomena at surfaces of solids; theory of high temperature superconductivity; Fermi liquid theory; strongly correlated electron systems; computational physics; theory of novel electron materials; quantum Hall effect; heavy fermion compounds; quantum magnetism and electronic transport in high magnetic fields; thermoelectric transport in novel semiconductor materials; theory of strongly coupled Coulomb systems; space and atmospheric physics, among other areas.

Experimental research covers strongly correlated electron systems; materials physics; single crystal growth, film deposition, and bulk processing of high temperature superconducting materials; processing and physics of giant magnetoresistive materials; synthesis and characterization of superhard materials; low temperature condensed matter physics; materials in strong magnetic fields, nanostructured superconductors, heavy fermion superconductors; physics and chemistry of quasi one and quasi two dimensional electron systems; low temperature, high magnetic field electrical and magnetic properties of organic
conductors and superconductors, anisotropic torque and magnetotransport measurements; commensurability resonances and spin density wave states; solid state spectroscopy of laser-type materials, luminescence spectroscopy, flash photolysis and molecular spectroscopy, photoacoustics, femtospectroscopy; optical properties of low-dimensional and organic semiconductors; modulation spectroscopy, among other areas.

Journals and conference proceedings constitute the bulk of our current collections strength. More and more of our journals are being made available electronically to our users. The general needs of our users in other areas of astronomy and physics are met at the undergraduate level.

Resource sharing in the form of membership in regional and national organizations like the Boston Library Consortium will increasingly play a signficant role in collection development.  As access  to  resources and document delivery become easier and faster due to advances in technology, we will depend more and more on interlibrary loan, facsimile transmission, purchase of articles, electronic and on-demand publication and retrieval, etc. Reference sources continue to be acquired for the BC Libraries as valuable research tools.

Syed Khan
Physics Bibliographer
617-552-4450
E-Mail: khans@bc.edu

Selected Resources

In the O'Neill Library:

• Extensive holdings in Physics journal literature.

• Bibliographies, indexes & abstracts:

  • Physics Abstracts

  • Chemical Abstracts

  • Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings

  • Energy Abstracts for Policy Analysis

  • Applied Science & Technology Abstracts

On the Web (Restricted to the BC Community):

• General indexes and tables of contents services:

  • Web of Science (Science Citation Index Expanded)

  • Current Contents Current

  • Uncover Reveal.

• Gateways to full text electronic journals: American Institute of Physics, Institute of Physics (IOP), Springer LINK, Wiley InterScience.  See also the Boston College Electronic Journals list.

• Other databases in the sciences: Subject Indexes to Online Databases: Sciences.  This web page also has links to other subject lists of databases.

Research Guides
More information about available resources can be found in the following resource guide: Library Research Guide: Physics.

Interdisciplinary Elements of  Subject  Area
Collection development for physics involves coordination with other disciplines in the School of Arts and Sciences and some programs in the School of Education. The interdisciplinary subjects include biophysics, energy, geophysics, history & philosophy of science, scientific biographies and waste management.

Formats and Types of Materials
Research journals and serials constitute the bulk of the collection. Advanced level monographs and some textbooks are also collected. Conference proceedings, technical reports, government documents, and dissertations are acquired as  needed.  A growing number of resources are becoming available in both print and electronic formats; decisions to collect in one or the other format (or both) are made on a title by title basis.

Languages
English is the language of choice. Materials in other languages are acquired only on specific request.

Geographic areas (subject  approach)
There is no geographic limitation in physics collection development.

Time periods (subject approach)
Current developments in physics are emphasized.

Dates of  Publication
Materials published recently are collected.  Older titles are acquired on demand.

Subject Areas Collected by Library of Congress Classification Number
BCAT, the online catalog, can be searched by LC classification number to get a better idea of what specific titles the physics collection contains.  For example, the command c=QC350 will produce the beginning of a list of works on optics in physics.  This list can be browsed by pressing the F8 key or typing f and pressing the Enter/Return key.