School of Physics

1. The department

The Faculty of Science is made up of six schools and several faculty centres, some of which are cross-faculty, offering a diverse range of disciplines in undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Ten departments from other faculties, primarily the Faculty of Medicine, contribute to science teaching at all levels. There are approximately 3600 students in the Faculty of Science, including over 304 postgraduates, and an academic staff of 295

The faculty conducts undergraduate and postgraduate studies on the Clayton, Gippsland and Peninsula campuses in Australia and at Monash Malaysia.

The schools within the faculty are: Applied Sciences and Engineering; Biological Sciences; Chemistry; Geosciences; Mathematical Sciences; and Physics.

The School of Applied Sciences and Engineering operates on the Gippsland and Peninsula campuses and offers studies in applied biology, applied chemistry, mathematics and modelling, and resource and environmental management.

Amendment history
   amended 5.12.03
   amended 6.06.06

The School of Physics is based on the Clayton campus. It offers undergraduate majors in physics, materials science (presented jointly with the Department of Materials Engineering), and astronomy/astrophysics. Other teaching areas include biomedical physics; environmental science, radiography and medical imaging. The School has an active well funded, research program. Research degrees currently offered include PhD, Master of Engineering Science by research, Master of Science by research, and a one year-equivalent coursework Master of Materials Engineering degree.

There is an academic staff of 25 and a student load of 274 EFTSU, of which approximately 18 are postgraduate.

Research areas within the School include
Theoretical and computational physics - electron scattering in materials, condensed matter physics, foundations of quantum mechanics, computational physics, geometrical and topological methods in theoretical physics ; electric and magnetic properties of materials - electron paramagnetic resonance, magnetic studies, Mossbauer spectroscopy, polymer physics, thin films ; mechanical and microstructural properties of materials - materials science, diffraction studies ; instrumentation and imaging - acoustics, computed tomography, computer image processing ; microscopy; synchrotron science, X-ray physics and imaging

More information about:

• Faculty of Science (www.sci.monash.edu.au/)
• Schools in the faculty (www.sci.monash.edu.au/schools/)
• Research in the faculty (www.sci.monash.edu.au/postgrad/restrengths.html))
• School of Physics (www.physics.monash.edu.au/)
• Courses offered by the faculty are listed in the Monash University handbook (monash.edu.au/pubs/handbooks/)

2. General policy statement

The Collection Development Policy covers printed books and journals, electronic resources, multimedia and any other formats acquired for the Library's collection.

The Policy is regularly monitored to ensure that the selection and acquisition of new resources supports the teaching and research needs of the faculties and their departments. While every effort is made to meet known information needs some gaps in the collection may develop which need attention, and suggestions to address them are welcome. This may be done through liaison with library staff or, for individual titles, using the recommendation form at lib.monash.edu.au/forms/acquisition-request.doc

To ensure that the library provides collection materials to support new courses and subjects, completion of a Library Impact Statement lib.monash.edu.au/forms/impact.doc is required. When establishing new research directions staff are encouraged to liaise with the library about the provision of supporting information resources.

All titles listed as prescribed or recommended reading for teaching subjects are acquired as high priority and in multiple copies depending on student enrolment numbers. This is particularly necessary for undergraduate students, who need access to adequate resources on their home campus. Electronic versions of these texts are also provided where possible, so that access is more readily available regardless of location and number of copies held. The inter-campus loan and photocopy services for undergraduates further support the needs of those students.

However, the library cannot acquire every item that could conceivably be needed by Monash staff or students. The reciprocal borrowing scheme enables Monash library users to borrow from other university libraries. Post-graduates and staff may also use the document delivery service to obtain books and articles from other libraries in Australia and overseas.

3. The library's collection

a. Location

Material purchased for the School of Physics is located predominantly in the Hargrave-Andrew Library on the Clayton campus. Material concerning the physics and chemistry of materials purchased for the School of Chemistry in the Faculty of Science is also located in the Hargrave-Andrew Library. Material in the area of ceramic technologies is also purchased for the Department of Chemical Engineering. Relevant material purchased for the School of Mathematics and Statistics is also located in the Hargrave Andrew Library. Some older low use monographs are housed in high density storage in the Matheson Library.

b. Language

Generally only material in the English language is acquired.

c. Classification used

Material acquired for the School of Physics is classified using the Dewey Decimal Classification. The exception is any resources in the mathematics area received after about 1982 on the Clayton campus. These are classified using the Monash/M.O.S. mathematics classification, a variant of the American Mathematical Society's Mathematics Subject Classification scheme.

d. Formats collected

While no format is excluded, in practice the greater part of the collection is monographs and serials, printed and, increasingly, electronic. Due to the nature of research in the faculty serial literature is seen as vital and so a high proportion of the library budget for the faculty is spent on serials.

e. Size of the collection

Increasingly the emphasis in collection development is on electronic resources. The number of scientific serials received in print continues to decline while the number of electronic titles increases. Many electronic titles now come as packages from publishers and individual titles are not assigned to particular departments. There are more than 4000 electronic serials available in Science related areas.

f. Significant electronic resources

Resources in electronic format include databases, electronic books and journals, encyclopaedias and electronic book collections. There are some stand-alone CD-ROM databases that are only accessible within a particular branch. An increasing proportion of the budget for library materials for the Faculty of Science is spent on electronic resources. These include :

Databases

• Inspec
• ProQuest Science
• Web of Science
• Current Contents
• SciFinder Scholar

The library's database pages provide listings and links to databases organised by subject area.

Full text journal collections :

• Science Direct
• Wiley InterScience
• Springer
• American Institute of Physics
• Institute of Physics Journals

Online reference works :

• CRC handbook of chemistry and physics  
• Digital encyclopedia of applied physics
• Encyclopedia of astronomy and astrophysics
• Encyclopedia of chemical physics and physical chemistry
• International critical tables of numerical data, physics, chemistry and technology

Subject gateways :

• Monash library physics subject page (www.lib.monash.edu.au/subjects/physics/)

Around 80% of the library materials budget for the Faculty of Science is spent on serials, databases and electronic resources, and 20% on printed monographs.

g. Coverage of the collection

The library resources acquired for the school cover in general areas of the Dewey Decimal Classification in 520, astronomy; 530, physics; and some areas in 600's dealing with medical physics, diagnostics and imaging. The major areas of collecting for the School of Physics are as follows: engineering mechanics and materials, and 666-669, chemical engineering of specific materials. The major areas of collecting for the School of Physics are as follows:

The Hargrave-Andrew Library has especially strong collections in theoretical/quantum mechanics, heat and thermodynamics, lasers and image processing, electronic components and circuits, and tomography.

The Gippsland book collection is adequate to support first year undergraduate teaching, especially when used in conjunction with the wide range of electronic journals and databases available. There is also a well-used intercampus delivery system for items held at other campuses.

4. Other significant Monash collections or resources

SESTICON: As a member of SESTICON (South Eastern Scientific and Technical Information Consortium), Hargrave-Andrew cooperates with the member libraries covering this subject to consolidate and maximise holdings, thus providing the most effective access to information resources. Selected serial titles in areas of shared research interest are also circulated among the SESTICON libraries. (More information about SESTICON available lib.monash.edu.au/hal/sesticon.html)

Collections Table

(T = teaching level, R = research level)

Amendment history
Updated May 2006
Updated November 2003
First Issued November 2000

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