Yesterday afternoon former U.S. Senator for Missouri Roy Blunt visited Duane G. Meyer Library to confer with President Smart, Provost Jasinski, Dean Peters, and select members of the library faculty and staff. 

Among the topics discussed:

• The publication activities and successes of the Ozarks Studies Institute, especially OzarksWatch Magazine. Senator Blunt complimented managing editor Susan Croce Kelly and everyone involved in that informative and delightful publication.
• The fine and growing corpus of materials at the MSU Libraries about Ozarks history and culture, such as the Alberta Ellis collection, the Gordon McCann Collection, the Payton Collection, and various collections related to the Ozark Jubilee.
• The current state of select items from his own archive that have been donated to date to the MSU Libraries.
• Some matters pertaining to the longstanding and ongoing collaboration between the MSU Libraries and the State Historical Society of Missouri (SHSMO). Senator Blunt currently is serving as the President of the SHSMO Board of Trustees.

President Smart and Senator Blunt then took a brief tour of progress on the Blunt Hall expansion and renovation project.