Library Notes

This fall two library faculty members from the MSU Libraries will team up with librarians of the Springfield-Greene County Library District to offer a series of short workshops, designed for members of the general public, to help us all to spot, assess, and respond appropriately to “fake news,” which recently has gained national attention. Tracy Stout and Jessica Bennett from MSU will present the workshops at The Library Center on South Campbell on dates and times to be determined. Watch…

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Todd Parnell, retired banker and former President of Drury University, has joined the Advisory Board of the Ozarks Studies Institute. Todd comes from a long-time Ozarks family, and he is a prolific author of fiction with Ozarks themes. He just published the third novel in his first trilogy about the Ozarks, Donny Brook. Current members of the OSI Advisory Board include: Brooks Blevins, History Department, Missouri State University Susan Croce Kelly, Managing Editor of OzarksWatch Magazine Kaitlyn McConnell, Founder and…

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Susan Croce Kelly, a long-time resident of the Ozarks and a prolific journalist and an historian, has agreed to serve as the Managing Editor of OzarksWatch Magazine, which is published twice a year by the Ozarks Studies Institute, now part of the MSU Libraries. She will begin her duties in July as work begins on the Fall 2017 issue of OzarksWatch. Among other works, Susan is the author of Father of Route 66: The Story of Cy Avery (2014) and…

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This summer, the Duane G. Meyer Library hosted sessions for the Springfield Public Schools’ WINGS Explore program coordinated by Gina Wyckoff.  Fourth and fifth graders from the gifted education program worked on the theme of “Castles, Knights, Checkmate” and were encouraged to explore medieval resources at Meyer Library.  At Maps & GIS, Jim Coombs and Emilie Burke helped students to become more familiar with the geographies of medieval times with maps drawn during those times called ‘mappamundi’ and modern maps…

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Consisting of items originally stored in the Bursar’s Office vault in Carrington Hall, the Board of Governors Historical Materials (RG 2) provides 49 cubic feet of insights into the history of Missouri State University from 1905 to 1995. Property abstracts and financial records make up the majority of the collection, but it contains other material as well.  Notable items include daily activity reports for the construction of Meyer Library in 1979-1980, records of early debate societies (such as the Bentonian…

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This summer, among many other projects, Shannon Mawhiney is leading an effort to upgrade, enhance, and accelerate the abilities of the new Digitization Lab, part of Special Collections and Archives, to digitize recordings given to the MSU Libraries on VHS tapes. Like all digitization projects, the content will be preserved, and access will be expanded without further wear and tear on the original media. The VHS format was nearly ubiquitous for some time, and many collections gifted to the MSU…

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The final furniture order for the RIS Commons is being placed this week. When the furniture arrives, is assembled, and deployed, the new RIS Commons will be complete! A display board is located behind the service desk with samples, swatches, and images of what we will be getting. The furniture will include several Brody Work-Lounges, Campfire Slim Tables, round Ottomans, Bob Chairs (which people not named Bob are welcome to use), Lagunitas Personal Tables, and a high-tech, small-group workspace.

The Library of Congress recently announced that all Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, will be digitized and freely available online by the year 2020.  25,000 already are available online, with 500,000 slated to be freely available online by 2020. Sanborn maps depict the location, size, and building materials used for all buildings in a city at the time the map was made. Sanborn maps are useful to historians, urban planners, genealogists, students,…

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During the month of June, CONTENTdm from OCLC has three Featured Collections of digital images in the spotlight: The Ohio Transportation Collection of the Columbus Public Library, the Strobridge Lithographing Company Circus & Theater Posters Collection of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, and the St. John Photograph Collection of Missouri State University. The digital images were made from the original glass plate negatives, owned by the Christian County Historical Society. The photographs probably were taken in the…

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The collection contains over 500 programs in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and the physical and life sciences. A number of re-mastered well-known series are available, such as Bronowskia’s Ascent of Man; Attenborough’s The Living Planet; James Burke’s Connections; History of Civil Rights in America; History of the U.S. Constitution; and, the entire BBC Shakespeare series. In addition, there are a series of core concept videos in the sciences, including ones for astronomy, biology, chemistry, geology, meteorology, and both classical…

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