About the MA Library

Key Questions and Answers

1. What is the MA Library?

The Library of the Mathematical Association comprises around 9500 books and 700 runs of periodicals from many different countries. The collection covers mathematics, its teaching, history and popularisation, and is particularly rich in its coverage of school and university mathematics textbooks of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The collection also includes around 400 older or rarer items going back to the sixteenth century. The Library as a whole is a unique primary source for the history of the mathematics curriculum in the United Kingdom.

2. What is in the MA Library?

The whole of the MA Library has been catalogued electronically by the University of Leicester Library and can be accessed worldwide via the Web.

For a start go to the University's External Home Page:

http://www.le.ac.uk

•  Click on About the University
•  Click on Library for the University of Leicester Library Home Page
•  Click on Leicester Library Catalogue

To see all the electronic records for MA books:

• Click on Advanced Search

Scroll down to collections and use the drop-down menu to select Mathematical Association Collection.

• Click on Search

This list identifies all the older or rarer books in the MA collection, using a prefix SC for Special Collection, and S for small, M for medium and T for tall items.

Other MA books have the prefix M.A. or FM.A. for larger items (F for folio).

• Click on details for individual item information and the catalogue record.

To look for a particular item:

• Click on Author/Title Search; enter the author's surname only, and the title, excluding words a, an, the.

Without any Search Limits, the search will identify a book in the University's Library as a whole, including the subset of MA books.

3. Where is the MA Library?

The Library of the Mathematical Association is accommodated in the David Wilson Library on the main campus of the University of Leicester. The postal address is:

David Wilson Library
PO Box 248
University Road
Leicester LE1 9QD

To find the Library, go to the University's External Home Page (see 2 above):

• Click on Visit Us
• Click on Maps
• Click on Show Access to Buildings.

The bulk of the MA Library is accommodated on moving stack shelves in the Blue Zone on David Wilson Library Floor 1, next to the University's mathematical books. The older or rarer items are part of the University's Special Collections, which are accommodated in the Library Basement as part of the Kirby and West Suite. MA periodicals are also accommodated in the Basement, on moving stack shelving.

For travel to the University of Leicester main campus:

• Click on Visit us
• Click on Transport.

4. Who manages the MA Library and supports its use?

The Library of the Mathematical Association is managed by a small Library Committee, under the chairmanship of the MA Librarian, appointed by the MA Council:

• Mike Price, MA Librarian

e-mail librarian@m-a.org.uk
tel. 0116-2210013

The University Library staff support the MA Library's development in many ways and are represented on the Committee by:

• Evelyn Cornell, University of Leicester Special Collections and Information Librarian

e-mail ec37@le.ac.uk
tel. 0116-2522056

Committee meetings and the administration of periodical exchange arrangements internationally are supported from MA HQ by:

• Marcia Murray, Senior Administraror

The Mathematical Association
259 London Road
Leicester LE2 3BE
e-mail senioradministrator@m-a.org.uk

tel. 0116-2210013

5. How do I gain access in person?

• Campus Entry and Parking:

MA members who register with the University Library are treated as external readers. Enter the main campus by Visitor Entrance 1, near the Welford Road (A50) end, and explain your business to the Security Officer when you get to the barrier.

For parking, external readers are not normally entitled to use visitor parking spaces. Parking is available on a pay and display basis, on the right by Wyggeston College, after passing through the security barrier.

• Registration:

To register you must provide valid proof of ID and a letter from MA HQ which confirms your current membership of the MA and the expiry date. Registration is for a maximum of one year, or up to the date of membership expiry. Registration is renewable annually. The costs for reference-only or borrowing readership are waived for current MA members.

On entry to the David Wilson Library you will need to explain at Reception that you wish to register, or show your current library registration card.

• Library Registration

tel. 0116-2522040

• Time Restrictions on Access:

Access to MA books and periodicals in the open stacks is possible during all opening hours.

The MA books in the Special Collection are subject to special rules for reference-only use in the Reading Room of the Kirby and West Suite. Arrangements should be made in advance by contacting:

e-mail: specialcollections@le.ac.uk
tel.: 0116-2522056

For up-to-date Library opening hours and special closure details please visit the University of Leicester Library home page http://www.le.ac.uk/library/about/hours.html

•  Enquiries:

For any further information or help you can contact:

Library Enquiry/Help Desk
e-mail: libdesk@le.ac.uk
tel. 0116-2522043

6. How can I borrow items?

The borrowing entitlement is up to a maximum of four items, for up to four weeks excluding short loan items, from the MA or University collection as a whole. For borrowing in person, check the opening hours for loans from the Library Home Page on the Web.

There is a Postal Book Loan Service for MA members registered with the University Library. MA members may borrow MA books only, by post, subject to their borrowing entitlement. The only charge is for postage and packing to supply, and the borrower pays for return.

Books may be returned by post (see 3 above for the postal address), at the borrower's own risk until received by the Library.

Loans may be set up or renewed by contacting:

e-mail libdesk@le.ac.uk
tel. 0116-2522043

NB The Special Collections are reference only.

7. What other services are available?

As registered external readers, MA members may request inter-library loans or limited photocopying. For details and costs, contact the Document Supply Service:

email: interlib@le.ac.uk
tel. 0116-2522039

8. How does the MA Library grow?

The Library of the Mathematical Association grows through donations via publishers, from MA members or their relatives following bereavement. For a history of the Library's growth since 1890, see:

Mary Walmsley, Mike Price and Michael Dampier, Mathematical Textbooks from Six Centuries,  Mathematical Association, 2005, available from MA HQ (see 4 above)

9. Donations

Enquiries about possible donations should be addressed in the first instance to Marcia Murray at MA HQ (see 4 above). Possible material for the MA Library should not be delivered to or deposited at MA HQ without invitation.

Mike Price

revised September 2008