Staying connected to AMS content during the COVID-19 pandemic

In response to current challenges that colleges and universities face as a result of the spread of COVID-19, the American Mathematical Society is offering our community additional support in line with recommendations in the International Coalition of Library Consortia (ICOLC) Statement on the Global COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Impact on Library Services and Resources.

For libraries:

• We are extending grace access for content hosted on our platforms (including MathSciNet) through the end of May for our existing customers. We will re-evaluate this timing as needed.
• In normal circumstances, remote access and mobile pairing for access to AMS content can be set up while on campus or while connected via institution VPN (in order to validate IP-based access). We realize many students, faculty, and researchers did not have an opportunity to initiate this access before leaving campus and we reached out recently with a unique link and instructions for our library partners on how patrons can connect to our content. If you are setting up online access for the first time or have not received instructions to share with your patrons, please email us at cust-serv@ams.org.
• We are aware that many institutions are closed globally. If you subscribe to our journals in print and wish to suspend delivery of print journals, please contact cust-serv@ams.org.
• All of our print journal subscriptions include complimentary online access. If your library has not yet activated online access and you would like to do so, please complete the license agreement and send it to cust-serv@ams.org.

For teachers, students, and researchers:

• As courses transition to online, we can provide instructors with complimentary electronic “reserve” copies of our textbooks for cases in which students do not have access to their print copies. Please visit the book page for your textbook on bookstore.ams.org and use the “request desk copy” link to request an e-copy that can be posted to a course website, course management system, or place on e-reserve.
• E-books purchased through the perpetual access model on the AMS platform are always available DRM-free with unlimited simultaneous use.  In addition, we are partnering with ProQuest to allow multi-user access through mid-June to all e-books purchased on their platforms. Read ProQuest’s statement.
• The AMS is also participating in the Copyright Clearance Center Education Continuity License program, providing access to our content for distance learning and other educational uses at no cost to the user.
• We have also made relevant mathematical modeling content available free-of-charge; please visit this page for more information.
• We also offer freely available content for teaching at Open Math Notes a repository of freely downloadable mathematical works in progress. These draft works include course notes, textbooks, and research expositions in progress. They have not been published elsewhere, and, as works in progress, are subject to significant revision. Visitors are encouraged to download and use these materials as teaching and research aids, and to send constructive comments and suggestions to the authors.
• We are providing remote access and mobile pairing for access to all our content online, including MathSciNet. In normal circumstances, this remote access can be set up while on campus or while connected via institution VPN (in order to validate IP-based access). We realize many students, faculty, and researchers did not have an opportunity to initiate this access before leaving campus, so we have given instructions to our library partners on how patrons can connect to our content. Please contact your librarian for assistance.
• Finally, our colleague, Abbe Herzig, Director of Education at the AMS, has compiled useful resources and practical strategies for transitioning to online teach, which you can find here.

We hope these resources and policy updates will be helpful.  Please do not hesitate to reach out to us if you need something as we all adjust together to this “new normal.”