Library Notes

SFF23OZ is the acronym that the planning team has been using to refer to the Ozarks program being planned for the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival to be held in late June and early July on the National Mall in DC. Missouri State University is serving as the lead organization in the Ozarks on this massive planning effort, and the Ozarks Studies Institute , an ongoing initiative of the MSU Libraries, is leading the program planning effort throughout the region, in collaboration with many…

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The Ozarks Studies Institute, an ongoing initiative of the Missouri State University Libraries, will host Mara W. Cohen Ioannides for an author talk and signing of her newly published book, “Jews of Missouri: An Ornament to Israel.” The discussion will be held Monday, March 7 at 4 p.m. in the Ozarks Room (302) of the Duane G. Meyer Library on the MSU Springfield Campus. The event, which is free and open to the public, will also belivestreamed via Zoom. “Jews…

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A digitized version of the Johnson Library Card Catalog is now available online along with a finding aid. This project was funded through a grant from the Missouri Humanities Council. Missouri State University Associate Professor Andrea Miller, Assistant Professor Raegan Wiechert, Digital Archivist Shannon Mawhiney, and Haley Frizzle-Green (now Archivist with the State Historical Society of Missouri), with the support of Assistant Professor Anne Baker, carried out the grant on behalf of Missouri State University and the Johnson Library and…

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The Missouri State University Testing Center, administered by the MSU Libraries and located in the Lower Level of Duane G. Meyer Library, recently added the paper version of the TOEFL iBT to its arsenal of exams available to our students, community, and region. TOEFL is the premier test of academic English communication, offered at test centers worldwide.    In addition, the Testing Center is in the process of adding Advanced Placement (AP) exams to the options available for those attempting…

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SFF23OZ is the acronym that the planning team has been using to refer to the Ozarks program being planned for the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival to be held in late June and early July on the National Mall in DC. Missouri State University is serving as the lead organization in the Ozarks on this massive planning effort, and MSU’s Ozarks Studies Institute is the leading university unit on this initiative.  Here are some updates of progress to date:  The core…

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The Missouri State University Libraries 2021 Annual Report is now available to view online. The publication showcases our recent projects, partnerships and initiatives – all of which culminated into one of our most successful years to date. Most notably, the report features our new agreement with the Smithsonian Institution to bring the Ozarks region to the national stage in 2023 as part of the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity will be a major effort of the MSU Libraries…

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The age range of the hundreds of musical, comedic, and dance groups that appeared on the Ozark Jubilee was very wide, from children as young as five, such as some members of the square-dancing Lake of the Ozarks Tadpoles, to elderly vaudevillians, such as Uncle Cyp and Aunt Sap.  Ralph Foster, Si Siman, Bryan Bisney, and the other members of the Ozark Jubilee eventually decided to embed a “spin-off” show within the Ozark Jubilee weekly broadcasts that would focus on…

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Recently Ozarks Public Television (OPT), located here on the main Springfield campus of Missouri State University, researched, produced, and broadcast an hour-long documentary about local radio station KWTO and its role in and contributions to the growth of live country music performances and performers in the second quarter of the 20th century. Tom Peters, Dean of Library Services at MSU, was one of several people who provided commentary to the documentary. Here’s a synopsis of the documentary: “As radio blossomed…

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After years of fundraising and good, hard work, the Ozark Jubilee Digitization Project is now complete. All of the kinescopes held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive have been digitized, transcribed, enriched with metadata, and put online for everyone to enjoy and study free of charge. These recordings of the most important musical production to ever come out of the Ozarks now have been preserved.  The Ozark Jubilee, which ran weekly from December 1953 until September 1960, first as…

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Grace Jackson-Brown, Chairperson of the committee for the Springfield African American Read-In (AARI) and Professor of the Missouri State University (MSU) Libraries, announces that the AARIC will welcome two authors with local roots back to Springfield to celebrate Black History Month 2022. Brandy Colbert, award-winning Young Adult Author, is scheduled to give a virtual presentation with live Q & A on Thursday, February 17, 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm, at the Library Center (4652 S. Campbell Ave, Springfield, MO). Ms…

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