In 1989, a play about AIDS and homosexuality drew a firestorm of reaction in the Ozarks. The Missouri State University (then Southwest Missouri State University) Theatre and Dance Department planned to perform Larry Kramer’s play The Normal Heart. Students wanted to bring an awareness of AIDS to campus and chose Kramer’s play, which dramatized the growing AIDS problem in the gay and lesbian community in the early 1980s.
Nathan Neuschwander’s position as Graphic Designer for the Missouri State University Libraries has been reclassified to Technology Strategist, effective November 1, 2021. MSU’s Office of Human Resources led the analysis of Nathan’s regular, periodic, and occasional job duties and responsibilities, which identified how they have changed over time due to his ongoing support and leadership of technology initiatives throughout the organization. As Technology Strategist, Nathan will lead and manage the daily operations, strategic planning and assessment of the Library…
Due to several impending retirements, the Missouri State University Libraries has opened a worldwide search for a Managing Editor and Writer, a new position. The date of first consideration is Tuesday, January 18, 2022. The Managing Editor and Writer for the MSU Libraries uses invention, imagination, originality, and talent to develop, write, and edit materials for print and electronic publications for the MSU Libraries and the Ozarks Studies Institute, which may include, but are not limited to: books, including both…
Brooks Travis, the head of Library Information Technologies (LIT) at the Missouri State University Libraries, will be leaving MSU soon to become a member of the EBSCO FOLIO Team. His employment at MSU will end on Friday, December 31, 2021, and he will begin at EBSCO on Monday, January 3, 2022. According to the website, “FOLIO is an open-source library services platform that integrates print and electronic resource management. It includes core library management functionality, is built on a modern…
Special Collections and Archives, part of the Missouri State University Libraries, is pleased to make available online the Jubilee Backstage Collection. In the late 1950s, a group of Ozark Jubilee fans made regular visits to the live broadcasts at the Jewell Theatre in downtown Springfield, Missouri and took backstage photos with their favorite performers. Earlier this summer, this collection of photos was loaned to Special Collections for digitization and is now available online. These rarely seen images show the Jubilee…
Anne Baker, Head of Special Collections and Archives at the Missouri State University Libraries on the main Springfield campus, spoke at the virtual Brick and Click Conference last week. Her presentation, “Uncommon Partnership: Special Collections and Advanced Art History Classes at Missouri State University” looked at a long-running relationship with Art & Design that allows students to work hands-on with art and artifacts. In 2005, Anne and the former unit head met with Dr. Follensbee to discuss a collaborative project…
After an internal search conducted at Missouri State University, Craig Amason has been hired as the Associate Director of the Ozarks Program being planned for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in the summer of 2023. This is a fixed term, two-year position, beginning Monday, November 15, 2021. The Associate Director – Ozarks Folklife Festival assists the Dean of Library Services, in their role as Director of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2023 Ozarks project (SFF23OZ), including considerable outreach and collaboration with key…
Mohammad AlHamad, the new E-Resources Strategist for the Missouri State University Libraries, was in Charleston, South Carolina last week attending an important conference. The Charleston Conference was hybrid this year, for the first time, with both in-person and virtual attendance. Overall, the event was successful. All the sessions were presented in parallel for the virtual and in-person attendees. Mohammad attended several sessions that were very good and discussed new issues that we are facing in libraries and the publishing industry….
Professor Emeritus of History James Giglio has set up a special fund with the Missouri State University Foundation to support current and future faculty research and scholarly writing by helping other MSU faculty members to obtain information via interlibrary loan, one of many services offered by the Missouri State University Libraries. Professor Giglio has written many books, including The Presidency of John F. Kennedy (revised and expanded edition, 2006), Debating the Kennedy Presidency (2003), Musial: From Stash to Stan the…
We Gave Them Thunder, the most recent publication of the Ozarks Studies Institute, an ongoing initiative of the Missouri State University Libraries, is being considered for the 2022 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize. The book was co-authored by William Garrett Piston and John C. Rutherford. The Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize is awarded annually for the finest scholarly work in English on Abraham Lincoln, the American Civil War soldier, or a subject relating to their era. The $50,000 prize was co-founded and endowed by…