With encouragement and support from President Clif Smart and Provost Frank Einhellig, the Ozarks Studies Institute (OSI), an initiative of the Missouri State University Libraries, has undertaken an ambitious schedule to publish several books and music CDs over the next four years.

The goal of an OSI Publication Series is to raise the public profile of the Ozarks Studies Institute, establishing its leadership role in researching, archiving, interpreting, disseminating, and promoting knowledge of the Ozarks, its rich history, and its resources. The OSI Publications Series kicked off with the release last spring of the anthology, Living Ozarks: The Ecology and Culture of a Natural Place. The tentative publication schedule for the next few years includes the following:

• August 2019: TechnOzarks, a book of contributed chapters about the development and diffusion of various technologies in the Ozarks region
• August 2020: The Long Sixties, a book about the massive social and cultural changes experienced in the Ozarks from the late Fifties through the early Seventies
• Fall 2021: A two-CD set of Art Song in the Ozarks
• Fall 2022: Archival Treasures of the Ozarks

Dr. James S. Baumlin, Distinguished Professor of English, will join the OSI editorial team for this series. He has a course reassignment to work with OSI staff and faculty members on these new publishing ventures. This new initiative will complement the ongoing publication of OzarksWatch Magazine, which is published twice each year, in the spring and fall. Susan Croce Kelly is the Managing Editor of OzarksWatch Magazine.