Library Notes

The Ozarks Jewish Archives (M 43) in Meyer Library’s Special Collections and Archives contains material from the local Jewish community dating back to 1924.  It includes items about Temple Israel (the first synagogue in Springfield, Missouri), oral histories, and information related generally to Jewish activity in the Ozarks. By the late 19th century there was a small community of Jewish people living in the Ozarks.  In 1893, they organized Temple Israel, and during the early 20th century, the community grew large enough…

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If any full-time current employee of the MSU Libraries is going to be out of the library (Meyer or Haseltine) for a half day (i.e., four consecutive work hours) or more, we ask that you use the “Library Off Campus Calendar” that our LIT Unit recently set up. You may be out of the library for some work-related reason (e.g., a conference or workshop), or for some planned, excused absence (e.g., vacation, bereavement, jury duty). To add an event to…

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The Copenhaver Collection (LA 22) in Meyer Library’s Special Collections and Archives is a small collection mainly consisting of material from 1924-1938 regarding the Missouri Farmers Association (MFA) Milling Company in Springfield, Missouri.  It includes photographs of the inside of their building and of floods at the building in the late 1920s, MFA financials, and meeting minutes for the Exchange Managers of Southwest Missouri.  Also included in the collection is information about the Flour, Cereal, Feed Mill, and Grain Elevator Workers Union. James Albert…

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From March 16 through May 26, 2019, the Duane G. Meyer Library on the main Springfield campus of Missouri State University will host a traveling national exhibit from the Smithsonian Institution called “Roots of Wisdom: Native Knowledge. Shared Science.” This exhibit will be free and open to the entire campus community, as well as to the general public. According to the exhibit website: Local ecosystems around the world face serious environmental challenges. Many Native communities have found innovative solutions by…

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Due to Tammy’s Stewart’s retirement, Jan Johnson has volunteered to work on the Libraries’ effort to support Ozarks Food Harvest.     Ozarks Food Harvest sent a thank you note for the donations from the last get together.  The contribution was 177 pounds that will help provide 148 meals to 28 counties across the Ozarks.  One in five children and one in seven adults living in southwest Missouri are considered food insecure.    We have introduced a donation jar in…

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On Tuesday the Provost committed to providing funding for complete replacement of all 66 computers in the MSU Testing Center.  When the MSU Testing Center was moved over to Meyer Library and became part of the MSU Libraries as a cost center, the computers installed were not new. Now they are quite old, but soon they will be replaced with new computers. The Provost also will provide some funding to upgrade the video monitoring capabilities in the Testing Center. We…

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The Encyclopedia of Social Media and Politics is a three-volume, A-to-Z encyclopedia that explores how the rise of social media is altering politics both in the United States and in key moments, movements, and places around the world. Its scope encompasses the disruptive technologies and activities that are changing basic patterns in American politics and the amazing transformations that social media use is rendering in other political systems heretofore resistant to democratization and change. In a time when social media…

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Thanks to ongoing financial support coming in for the Ozark Jubilee Digitization Project, and in response to the strong demand for the episodes already digitized in partnership with the UCLA Film and Television Archive, ten more episodes of the early years of the Ozark Jubilee are being digitized. Several of the already digitized episodes have received 4,000 views or more in their first year of availability. Several scholars are conducting research into the Jubilee as well. All of the next…

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Missouri State University Libraries‘ exclusive “Rare Wine, Rare Books” annual event will be held on Friday evening, July 27, 2018, at 7:00 p.m. CDT in the Duane G. Meyer Library. This unique event is a fundraiser for the Fraley Family Rare Books Endowment. This year’s theme focuses on Drama and Theatre. Over a dinner featuring six flights of wine, guests will learn about Missouri State University’s rare books, as well as efforts to preserve our community’s theatre history. Please plan to…

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The MSU Libraries recently received a large gift-in-kind from Grace M. Jackson-Brown of slightly over 100 new monographs.  These titles, primarily academic non-fiction, are significant in their relevance to the University’s diversity mission and address subject areas such as African-American culture and history, diversity and inclusion, and other multicultural issues.  Dr. Jackson-Brown received the books through my work as a committee member, over the last two years, for the ALA Black Caucus Literary Awards Committee. These literary awards have been given by…

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