Library Notes

The Missouri State University Libraries offers a vast, diverse array of content, services, and spaces (both real-world and online) that benefit students, faculty, researchers, and members of the general public, near and far. While most of our activities and commitment of resources are for ongoing programs, the MSU Libraries has a substantial number of new initiatives that are in various stages of development and implementation, from active exploration to fully launched. Below, presented in outline form, is a partial list…

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On August 1, 2018 Tracie Gieselman-Holthaus will begin serving the MSU Libraries and its users as our new Archivist. Congratulations, Tracie! Since 2005 she has served as an Archives Specialist here at MSU, providing research assistance to patrons, processing collections, supervising student employees, and assisting with exhibit development. Prior to coming to MSU, Tracie worked as an Archives Associate and Office Assistant at the History Museum on the Square in downtown Springfield. Tracie observed, “After years of becoming familiar with…

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The first ever Bear POWER Summer Leadership Retreat occurred this summer.  Bear POWER (Promoting Opportunities for Work, Education and Resilience) is a two-year, five-semester inclusive college program created to offer a post-secondary education opportunity to students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) transitioning out of high school.  The Bear POWER mission is “To effectively utilize existing campus and community resources to create an inclusive academic college program that generates individual outcomes for students with intellectual disabilities in the areas of…

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The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) currently is running the GREAT AMERICAN READ, an eight-part television series that explores and celebrates the power of reading, told through the prism of America’s 100 best-loved novels (as chosen in a national survey).  It investigates how and why writers create their fictional worlds, how we as readers are affected by these stories, and what these 100 different books have to say about our diverse nation and our shared human experience. Ozarks Public Television (OPT),…

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The MSU Testing Center, located on the Lower Level of Duane G. Meyer Library, administered over 16,000 exams during the 2017-2018 academic year.  Approximately 70% of those exams were Missouri State Online students. This is a 59% increase in total exams given, compared to last year, and an increase of 270% in Missouri State Online exams! In addition, the MSU Testing Center has added several new exam companies, such as Accuplacer, Assessment Systems, Castle Worldwide, Kryterion, and Prov.  To help…

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A four-week course offered through ALA Publishing eLearning Solutions, Instructional Design for Online Teaching and Learning, taught by Diane Kovacs, focused on using seven steps to optimize impact in teaching and learning situations.  These could be courses, tutorials, workshops, etc. The course began with an overview of learning perspectives and learning styles.  Ms. Bennett’s biggest takeaway from that portion is no learner learns in just one way. It behooves us as teachers to offer information and materials in a variety of…

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Springfield businessman and philanthropist Guy Mace recently donated a remarkable collection of art and artifacts to Missouri State University. The gift was made to the Department of Art and Design. The MSU Libraries will house, curate, and display the items in the collection. The collection includes African masks, figural wooden staffs and ceremonial knives and spears from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries along with Native American, Asian, and Oceanic masks and headdresses. Dr. Billie Follensbee, professor in the Department of…

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America: History and Life is a complete bibliographic reference to research on the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Published since 1964, the database comprises over 490,000 bibliographic entries for periodicals dating back from 1895, providing an incomparable research tool for students and researchers of U.S. and Canadian history. This extensive database covers over 1,800 journals and in addition to articles, each year America: History and Life includes approximately 6,000 citations of book and…

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Bright and early on Monday morning, July 9, 2018 Lindsey Taggart began working at the Missouri State University Libraries. She is serving as our Director of Resource Management and Discovery, a new position, and a 12-month, tenure-track assistant professor. Prior to coming to MSU, Lindsey served as the Assessment and Collection Development Librarian and Assistant Professor at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. She has worked previously at Crowder College in Neosho, Missouri, at the Forest Institute of Professional Psychology in Springfield, Missouri,…

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The 8th Annual Birthplace of Route 66 Festival will be held in downtown Springfield on Friday and Saturday, August 10-11, 2018. Official starting time is noon on Friday. This year’s events are exciting with an all-free musical lineup. Musical acts scheduled to appear include favorite Branson acts on the KY3/KSPR stage in Park Central Square and regional favorites Lyal Strickland, Mark Chapman, Blue Plate Special, Makenna & Brock, Laura Ashley, the Mixtapes, Machine Gun Symphony, Dirty Saints and Dr. Zhivegas, Justice Adams,…

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