It is an honor and privilege to return to Missouri State University as dean of library services here at Duane G. Meyer Library! Some folks on campus may recall that I served as a department head for special collections and archives at Meyer Library from 1997 to 2015. I then left MSU for an opportunity to serve at another institution as their dean of library services from 2016 to June of this year. I am grateful for this rare and…
The latest edition of OzarksWatch has been published this week. The spring/summer 2025 theme is fishing, a topic which was selected by former managing editor, Susan Croce Kelly, as she passed her responsibilities to Rachel Kersey. This issue contains a variety of articles and book reviews written by and about local journalists, academics, and even one student intern—the magazine’s first. There are also new features, including poetry and illustration, and a call for submissions.
Holly Kouns, coordinator of public services for the Duane G. Meyer Library, has been appointed interim coordinator of the testing center, effective Monday, July 7. She is stepping in to fill the void left by the recent retirement of Sue McCrory on July 1. As interim coordinator, Kouns will be responsible for overseeing full-time staff, managing communications, messaging, and troubleshooting, and providing guidance for exam protocols. She will also help with alignment of the testing center with other library units….
Susanna Reichling represented Missouri State University at two music conferences in May 2025. The 59thAnnual ARSC Conference (The Association for Recorded Sound Collections) was held in Tulsa, Oklahoma from May 14-17. The four-day event included multiple sessions on the recorded music and digitization/preservation activities in the Midwest United States region (particularly Oklahoma) and some behind-the-scenes tours of Tulsa music archives, recording studios, and museums. An international slate of music archivists, researchers, and collectors — presenting their research on individual musicians…
On Tuesday, June 10, the Duane G. Meyer Library hosted a mixer in the living room on the first floor of the building. The event was held so that faculty and staff could get to know each other. “We had had several new people and/or departments move into the library towards the end of the semester so I just thought it would be a good opportunity for all of us to make connections and get to know the people in…
Sue McCrory, testing center coordinator, has announced her retirement, effective July 1. Her last day in office will be June 30. McCrory has had a long career at Missouri State University. “I started here as a student worker in 1998 and then as a full-time person in 2000,” she said. Initially, she worked for the now-defunct Center for Scientific Research and Education, which was a center under CNAS. She did that for two years with progressively more challenging…
Recently, the Saint Louis Art Museum requested the loan of materials from Special Collections and Archives for use in their exhibit Roaring: Art, Fashion, and the Automobile in France. The exhibit untangles the impact of fashion, interiors, architecture, aviation, and the avant-garde on French automobile design and production. The Saint Louis Art Museum requested a loan of Sonia Delaunay: ses peintures, ses objets, ses tissues simulantés, ses modes (1925) from our collection of rare books. The richly illustrated album illustrates…
Meyer Library hosted two programs during finals week to aid students in their academic pursuits. Boris, the Maine Coon therapy cat, visited the library on May 5 and 6 from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. Also on May 6, a fuel cart was rolled around the library offering treats to students between the hours of noon and 2 p.m. Marketing and communications student worker Perla Oxlag organized the fuel cart and pushed it from the Lower Level to the third floor….
On April 24, 2025, the Springfield Art Museum (SAM) held one of their Slow Viewing programs in Meyer Library. Slow Viewing is a supportive practice for anyone who wants to develop their skills of interpretation, observation, and discussing art. Participants are asked to silently study the piece for 20-25 minutes, moving around if they wish to get a different view. Artist Shauna Smith then leads a discussion of the piece. On the 24th, they studied Mauricio Lasansky’s 1955 print Sagittarius. This…
Dr. Melinda Hammerschmidt, first grade instructor at the Greenwood Laboratory School and Dea Borneman, Library Science professor emeritus, had a chapter published within the book, The How and Why of Laboratory Schools: Innovations and Success Stories in Teacher Preparation and Student Learning by Michael Odell, Teresa Kennedy, Barbara B. Meyer, and Jill Sarada. The book chapter title is “Dream It, Design It, Do It” and focuses on creating successful collaboration projects.