Library Notes

The new Digitization Lab of the Missouri State University Libraries recently opened. Digitization efforts will focus on in-house digitization projects, rather than end-user, self-service digitization projects. The lab is located on the Third Level in Room 305D, which is accessible through Tracie Gieselman-Holthaus’ office (306D).  Current and near-term digitization projects include Frisco laboratory photos, two collections of glass plate negatives, Route 66 oral histories (audio and video), the KWTO Dial, and more. The Digitization Lab will be run and managed…

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The “Racist Commercial Art of the Early 20th Century” exhibit now on display in Room 107 on the Main Level of Duane G. Meyer Library shows some of the negative ways advertisers depicted African Americans in the early 20th century.  While this exhibit may be objectionable and disturbing to some visitors, the exhibit organizers hope that viewing the materials will lead to discussion of the racism of yesterday, as well as an awareness of how such imagery has affected perceptions…

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A MSU Libraries faculty and staff luncheon will be held on Thursday, April 20th, from 11:30 to 1:30 in the Employee Lounge of Meyer Library. Pizza and pasta will be provided by the Libraries, along with cool, refreshing beverages. Attendees are encouraged to bring salads, side dishes, and desserts, as well as their own, reusable plates and eating utensils.

Reptile Day was a free, educational event open to the public featuring live reptiles and amphibians to see and touch. The animals were brought by herpetology enthusiasts with lots of experience in the hobby. Many questions were answered, including captive husbandry inquiries and information on native species was provided with a display, featuring several live native specimens. A questionnaire was offered to attendees. Not many filled it out, but we estimate that over 60 people attended the event. Our own…

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2017 marks the centennial of America’s official involvement in the Great War, now known as World War I. On April 6, 1917, after the Zimmerman telegram was intercepted and made public, in which Germany proposed to support Mexico in its attempt to regain territory in the southwestern U.S., and after seven U.S. merchant ships were sunk by German torpedoes, the U.S. Congress declared war on Germany. Next Wednesday, April 5, at 6 p.m. in the Fox Theater, owned and operated…

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Last Thursday evening the Ozark Jubilee Digitization Project was officially launched by a public event held at the University Plaza Hotel, in conjunction with the Missouri Conference on History, organized by the State Historical Society of Missouri. Over sixty people attended the event, which lasted over an hour longer than anticipated, because audience members had so many questions to ask and memories to share. Last Thursday also was the launch of the YouTube Channel for these amazing recordings of live, nationally broadcast…

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Over Spring Break, MSU Networking Telecommunications performed an upgrade of the wireless networking (Wi-Fi) infrastructure in Meyer Library. They replaced 57 existing 802.11n access points (APs) from Juniper Systems with 802.11ac Wave 2 APs from Aruba Wireless, and added an additional ten new APs to increase coverage and improve service density, including seven on the first floor. These new access points should be able to handle 2-3 times the number of clients as the previous solution from Juniper, which means faster, more…

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Last week the New Media Consortium (NMC) released its Horizon Report > 2017 Library Edition. Seventy-seven experts in academic and research libraries, information technology, higher learning trends, and related fields pooled their knowledge and expertise to produce the report. Quoting from the press release, “Six key trends, six significant challenges, and six developments in technology profiled in this report are poised to impact library strategies, operations, and services with regards to learning, creative inquiry, research, and information management. The three…

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MOBIUS has been awarded the opportunity to host and manage the 2018 Evergreen International Conference.  Our proposal was chosen by the Evergreen Site Selection Committee in late Feb. The venue will be the St. Charles Convention Center.  The Evergreen Project develops an open source ILS (integrated library system) used by approximately 1,800 libraries around the world. The software, also called Evergreen, is used by libraries to provide their public catalog interface as well as to manage back-of-house operations such as…

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Yesterday the MSU Libraries entered into an agreement with MSU Planning, Design, and Construction (PD&C) to begin a process to develop a fully articulated plan, with cost estimates, for a new signage system in Meyer Library. PD&C agreed to work closely with the Libraries to articulate our needs, explore options, and develop a plan. Dean Peters informed PD&C that the Libraries already has a Signage Task Force in place that will become active again. Members include Mark Arnold, Jessica Bennett, Jir Shin Boey, Nathan…

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