Library Notes

The Children’s and Young Adult Book Review Board of Missouri, known and loved familiarly as the BRB, has released its annual report for 2017. The BRB, an initiative of the MSU Libraries, promotes and champions children’s and young adult literature, focusing on multicultural and series titles. In 2017, the BRB expanded its outreach efforts, presenting workshops on how to write a great book review for teachers and their students throughout the state. With an emphasis on 21st century skills, BRB…

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The Big Read is a collaborative project led by the Springfield-Greene County Library District, with the MSU Libraries as a partner organization. This year the Big Read is focused on pandemics past — and possibly in the future. On Thursday, April 19th beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Library Center on South Campbell, John M. Barry, author of The Great Influenza: The Story of the Greatest Pandemic in History, will be in town for an author talk and…

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An excellent tool presenting practical information about companies and the industries in which they compete, Business Insights: Essentials is a “fully integrated resource bringing together company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies and periodicals.” Business Insights contains nearly 500,000 company profiles, nearly 25,000 industry reports, more than 1,000 reports on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing individual companies (updated quarterly), over 2,500 market research reports, more than two million investment research/brokerage reports, and over 10,000 company histories….

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The Records of the Hotel Employees & Restaurant Employees and Bartenders International Union (HEREBIU), Local 336 in Meyer Library’s Special Collections and Archives documents the Springfield labor union from 1945-1964 with by-laws, minutes, correspondence, and more. HEREBIU, Local 472, was chartered in 1934 and represented Springfield area bartenders.  Local 472 was popularly referred to as the Bartenders’ Union, while HEREBIU, Local 336, which organized restaurant workers, was often called the Culinary Alliance. In 1953, Local 472 amended their by-laws to exclude women…

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Nexis Uni (formerly Lexis Nexis), with its new intuitive interface designed with university student input, features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790.  This interdisciplinary, full-text database includes over 350 newspapers, 300 magazines and journals, 600 newsletters, wire services, transcripts of broadcasts, and nearly 300 college/university papers. Business sources include business and financial news, U.S. and international company financial information from government or private sources, market research, industry reports, and…

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Several MSU students, including Jaren Newman, a student employee in the Library Information Technologies unit of the Missouri State University Libraries, were mentioned in the “Newsmakers” column of this week’s Springfield Business Journal. Here’s a quote from that column. Congratulations, Jaren, and the entire MSU Model United Nations team! Missouri State University’s Model United Nations team received several awards during the Midwest MUN conference in St. Louis. Junior Shelby Collier was named Outstanding International Press Delegate for representing British Broadcasting Co. MSU seniors John…

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The current exhibit in Special Collections and Archives features selections of items from military related archives from both Missouri State University and the State Historical Society of Missouri Research Center-Springfield. The collections are available for research, and include a wide range of formats, such as oral histories, correspondence, cartoons, propaganda posters and booklets, diaries, books, photographs of aircraft, and military insignia. The exhibit does not focus on a particular military conflict or action, but showcases the variety of formats and subject…

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Many people from MSU and beyond contributed to the writing, compiling, and creation of Living Ozarks, an anthology of essays, photos, poetry, art published by the Ozarks Studies Institute, an initiative of the Missouri State University Libraries. Bill Edgar, Rachel Besara, and Jim Baumlin served as the editors. The book was designed by Jacek Fraczak. President Clif Smart wrote the forward. Original essays were contributed by many people, including MSU Provost Frank Einhellig, History Professor Brooks Blevins, and MSU Libraries…

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The next chapter in the “Living Stories” initiative of the Missouri State University Libraries will be held on Thursday, April 26th in MSU’s Plaster Student Union, Room 132, from 1:30 to 3:00 and from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. The MSU Libraries and MSU’s Diversity and Inclusion division are collaborating to host our second Living Stories project at the Collaborative Diversity Conference in late April.  The Living Stories theme this year is Racism in 2018 and beyond: a changing dynamic.  Our living books will share what…

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Beginning April 1, the Duane G. Meyer Library will host a photography exhibition by Polish-born artist, Jacek Fraczak. Featuring the artist’s landscape photographs of Southern Missouri and Northern Arkansas, the exhibition lends visual support to the 2018 Public Affairs theme of sustainability. In program notes to the exhibition, Fraczak writes, “In August 2017, my wife, daughters, and I became U.S. citizens. God bless America! This photo-album is a testament of my dedication to this land—to the pastoral beauty of its…

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