Dartmouth College Library
Collection Management & Development Program
Collection Development Policy
ASTRONOMY
- COLLECTION AREA
- GENERAL PURPOSE
- DARTMOUTH COLLEGE PROGRAM
- GENERAL SUBJECT BOUNDARIES
- LANGUAGES
- GEOGRAPHIC AREAS
- TYPES OF MATERIALS COLLECTED
- FORMAT OF MATERIALS COLLECTED
- SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND MANUSCRIPTS
- OTHER RESOURCES AVAILABLE
- CREATION DATE
- REVISION DATE
- LC CLASS
- BIBLIOGRAPHER
- COLLECTING INTENSITY CHART is located on a separate page.
Astronomy
The collection primarily supports the instructional and research needs of the undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty who concentrate on astronomy within the Physics and Astronomy Department. In addition, the collection is used by students taking the astronomy courses that fulfill the science and interdisciplinary distributive requirements, and by the Dartmouth and general community for recreational and avocational purposes. The collection is also used by the many visiting scholars from other institutions who collaborate with the Dartmouth astronomy faculty.
The astronomy program exists within the Department of Physics and Astronomy [http://www.dartmouth.edu/artsci/physics/]; there is no separate Astronomy Department. The undergraduate program in astronomy does not grant a undergraduate major degree but it is possible to minor in astronomy. ÒStudents pursue their interest in astronomy within the context of the physics majorÓ (The Physics Major, Dartmouth College Department of Physics and Astronomy, page 13, Sept. 1996). A strong background in physics and mathematics, and familiarity with high-end computing is necessary for the study of astronomy. On the graduate level, a Ph.D. degree in physics with an astronomy specialization is offered.
Seven introductory courses are offered for undergraduates: development of astronomical thought, stars and their life histories, galaxies and the universe, formation and evolution of the solar system, stars and galaxies, astrophysics, and observational techniques in astronomy. Special topics courses that include observing time at Kitt Peak are offered to advanced undergraduates and graduate students without an astronomy background. Undergraduates participate in astronomical observations using telescopes at the Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT (MDM) Observatory on Kitt Peak, Arizona, and study special topics arranged through the astronomy faculty. The Shattuck Observatory on the Dartmouth campus is used for some undergraduate classes, and is open to the public at certain times.
The graduate program, which has existed since the early 1900's, focuses on observational astronomy, theoretical astrophysics and cosmology. Courses and seminars include: radiative processes, observational cosmology, galactic systems, astrophysics, the interstellar medium and observational cosmology. Graduate research is also carried out at the MDM Observatory on Kitt Peak.
In addition, the Studies in History and Philosophy of Science and Technology program (SHAPST), "...provides a curricular and extracurricular focus...seeking to examine the historical, philosophical and social traditions that have shaped the construction of science and technology, and the effects of science and technology on other intellectual, social and political activities." (Organization, Regulations and Courses, September, 1996, p. 665). SHAPST is not a formal department and does not grant a major or degree. The program identifies courses that cover the history and philosophy of science. Astronomy 4: The Development of Astronomical Thought is the course offered in astronomy.
Astronomy classes mostly in QB in the Library of Congress classification scheme and 520-529 of the Dewey system. All Dewey-classed material is housed in the Storage Facility, and the major portion of the QB material is housed in Kresge Physical Sciences Library. Some QB material is housed in other libraries, based on imprint date (Special Collections), popular treatment (Baker), or subject emphasis such as mathematical astronomy (Cook). The astronomy collection emphasizes the areas of cosmology (particularly large scale structure of the universe), observational astronomy and descriptive astronomy. Space physics, including study of the ionosphere and magnetosphere, classes in QC and is covered in the Physics Collection Development Policy. Materials covering astronautics, space travel, and related instrumentation class in TL787-TL4050, and are housed primarily in Feldberg Library.
English is the predominant language, but no language is excluded.
There are no geographical limitations to the acquisition of astronomy materials.
Monographs, conference proceedings and journals are important to astronomy researchers. Special types of material in astronomy include astronomical almanacs, observatory publications, star catalogues, sky atlases, society publications, and observersÕ handbooks. Many of these resources are used by faculty, students and experienced amateur astronomers. The Palomar Sky Survey photographic plates are purchased through the library but not housed in the library. Both bibliographic and numeric indexes are important resources which are primarily accessed electronically, through the World Wide Web or through the online search services using DIALOG and STN.
No format is excluded. Journals, bibliographic indexes and abstracts, numeric indexes, star catalogs, lists of catalogs of celestial objects, and sky atlases are published in print, on microfiche, and on CD-ROM, and the library has them in all these formats. Some of the material, particularly large datasets and indexes, are now available on the World Wide Web. When core reference sources are available on the Web, links are made from the library web pages to this material. For example, see the page describing the SIMBAD Astronomical Database (Set of Identifications, Measurements, and Bibliography for Astronomical Data) [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~krescook/indexabstract/simbad.html]. Researchers and students in astronomy use high-end, UNIX-based computers and networks, so electronic datasets and search systems are designed for that platform.
The records of the Shattuck Observatory, completed in 1854 and still used, are in Special Collections. Also in Special Collections are the papers of at least two noted astronomers. Charles Augustus Young was a Dartmouth graduate and professor who specialized in photographic astronomy. The Stefansson Collection includes some papers of Russell W. Porter, the founder of the Springfield Telescope Makers and the Stellafane Observatory in Springfield, Vermont, which is still a major gathering place for amateur astronomers.
Research in astronomy requires access to large datasets. The World Wide Web is an excellent source for datasets and indexes, since the astronomy research community freely shares this kind of material, and online data access has been well-supported by NASA and other institutions. An example is the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Astronomical Data Center web site [http://adc.gsfc.nasa.gov/], which lists major worldwide sources of electronic data. Print guides to datasets will often have electronic supplements, such as the book Information & On-line Data in Astronomy [http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/data-online.html]. For print material not collected in astronomy, interlibrary loan is utilized.
1/91 (originally created as a part of the Physics statement, created 9/82)
1991 (Susan C. George)
1997 (Barbara DeFelice)
QB
Barbara DeFelice
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Last updated February 1, 1999 by: CMDC@Dartmouth.Edu (jdh)