Libraries

The Collections for Physics, Math and Astronomy are in two locations.The Ahmanson Foundation Library in Cahill houses the astronomy collection and the Sherman Fairchild Library includes collections in physics and math.

The Astronomy Library is located in Cahill on the first floor. This branch library includes mostly astronomy titles in a new and modern study space. Astronomy books that don't fit on these shelves are located in the Caltech Hall basement. Graduate and undergraduate students from the PMA division as well as others use this as a place to work both quietly and collaboratively. As well, the daily astro-ph discussion takes place in this library every day at 10:30am.

The Sherman Fairchild Library includes many services and facilities as well as the collections for physics and math. There are five group study rooms, computer workstations, course reserves, and laptops available for checkout.

Cahill Ahmanson Library

Physics books are held in this library in the basement level, on compact shelving.

Math books are also held in the basement of the Sherman Fairchild Library but on open shelves.

CaltechAUTHORS

CaltechAUTHORS is a repository of research papers and other works authored by Caltech faculty and researchers, dating back to 1893. It contains mainly articles (84%), but also includes books, book chapters, technical reports, conference papers and more.  The repository is almost comprehensive since the Spring of 2008. It was at this date that the Faculty Board endorsed the creation and maintenance of this collection that documents and archives the Institute's research output. The repository is updated continuously as departmental and library staff add available and recently published documents. There are now more than 100,000 records in CaltechAUTHORS.

CaltechTHESIS

Includes all born-digital Caltech theses written since 2002, as well as digitized copies of earlier theses dating back to 1921.

Current students are expected to create records and deposit their own theses using the Advanced Deposit form available in CaltechTHESIS.  Group and one-on-one instruction and help is available through the library website.

Faculty, students and alumni are encouraged to contact the library when they can provide information missing in records for older theses, especially for names of advisers and committee members.

Almost all thesis are now publicly available, but some current ones may be restricted. Authors or their legal representatives may contact the library to have the restrictions lifted. Please email [email protected] and we will send you an online form that can be completed to secure your permission to release your thesis.