Library Notes

The search for a new Archivist for the MSU Libraries, to succeed Anne Baker, who last October became the new Head of Special Collections and Archives, will open soon, probably tomorrow, Friday, January 26, 2018. The goal is to fill the position by May 1, 2018. Here’s the description of the general function: “The Archivist is involved with all aspects of collection development and collection care for Special Collections and Archives. The Archivist is actively involved with collection development decisions…

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The MSU African & African-American Studies Committee and the MSU Libraries are collaborating to bring a national speaker to campus next month. Dorothy Berry, an Archivist at the University of Minnesota who currently is serving as the Digitization and Metadata Lead for the Umbra Search African American History Project, involving dozens of partner organizations, including Missouri State University, will speak in Room 101 of Duane G. Meyer Library beginning at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 on the topic of “Giving Voice…

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In January 2018, thanks to the perspicacity and generosity of Wayne Glenn, The Old Record Collector, whose weekly radio program appears on KTXR, and the hard work of Randy Stewart from KSMU Radio (and spouse of our own Tammy Stewart), the MSU Libraries received a donation of digitized copies of several old RadiOzark transcriptions (that is, LP recordings) of radio programs from the Fifties. The recordings include: Mothers’ March on Polio from January 31, 1952, featuring performances by local talent…

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“Trucking Down the Mother Road” will be the program topic when the Lebanon-Laclede County Route 66 Society holds its annual membership meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 29, at the Lebanon-Laclede County Library. Non-members are welcome to attend this free meeting and public lecture. Tom Peters and Kaitlyn McConnell will discuss their project to produce 20 or more oral histories about trucking on Route 66. Peters is Dean of Library Services at Missouri State University, and McConnell is founder…

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The Max Hunter Collection is an archive of almost 1600 Ozark Mountain folk songs, recorded between 1956 and 1976. A traveling salesman from Springfield, Missouri, Hunter took his reel-to-reel tape recorder into the hills and hollows of the Ozarks, preserving the heritage of the region by recording the songs and stories of many generations. As important as the songs themselves are the voices of the Missouri and Arkansas folks who shared their talents and recollections with Hunter. Between 1998 and 2001,…

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Date: Tuesday, April 3, 2018, at 7:00 pm in Meyer Library Room 101 Title: “Mandel Meets the Bard: King Lear and the Shakespearean Apocalypse” Description: Emily St. John Mandel’s science fiction novel, Station Eleven, a finalist for the 2014 National Book Award, “begins” where King Lear “ends.” While a knowledge of Shakespeare can enrich our reading of Mandel’s novel, we might reverse their roles and ask, “How can Mandel help us read Lear?” By a continuous process of reinvention, Shakespeare…

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As previously reported in Library Notes, our own Joyce Stefka will be retiring at the end of January 2018. The search to find and hire a new Executive Assistant II should commence officially this Friday, when the position is posted on the website that lists current employment opportunities at MSU. Please feel free to share the position announcement with anyone you think may be interested in it, or know someone who is. The position description basically is the official position…

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The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) is the national record of men and women who have shaped British history and culture, worldwide, from the Romans to the 21st century. The Dictionary offers concise, up-to-date biographies of more than 60,000 men and women who died in or before the year 2012 who have had some significant connection to British history, including individuals from Great Britain as well as individuals such as Mahatma Gandhi, from current or former British territories, or people such…

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During the weekend of January 6-7, 2018, C-SPAN 2, known as Book TV, aired a number of stories about the history and significance of Springfield, Missouri, including an 8:42 interview with MSU Dean Library Services Thomas A. Peters, about his recent biography of John T. Woodruff, one of the leading developers and civic leaders in the history of Springfield. Other segments included interviews with: Author Samantha Mosier, Creating Organic Standards in the United States: The Diffusion of State Organic Food…

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During this preparatory week prior to the start of the Spring Semester of 2018 at MSU, crews were busy in the lobby of Duane G. Meyer Library assembling new furniture. Here’s a “before” photo taken early Monday morning, when the space was bare, with a shiny newly waxed floor, followed by another photo taken late Wednesday afternoon, after most of the new furniture had been assembled and installed. The window wall on the south side of the lobby also has…

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