Library Notes

In early November, the Springfield-Greene County Library will host two events that look back on the Vietnam War.  On Wednesday, November 2nd at 6:30 p.m., three military veterans who experienced the Vietnam War as young men share their stories in two powerful programs in the Library Center auditorium. Offering alternatives to Hollywood’s “Rambo” and “Apocalypse Now,” the veterans strive to deliver a “more honest, balanced and nuanced history of that long and terrible conflict” on behalf of the victims and…

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Members of the public are invited to come to the R&R Restaurant in Thomasville, Missouri, at 6 p.m. on Thursday, November 3rd for the “big reveal” of the newly-digitized version of the Civil War era diary of James Posey Woodside.  John Rowlett Woodside, father of James, who spent most of his adult life in Thomasville in Oregon County, Missouri, was a Colonel in the Confederate Army. As a private he fought at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek. According to one…

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In his almost 42 years on campus, Lynn Cline quietly, professionally, and effectively provided service to the the Missouri State University Libraries and the campus as a whole. For most of those years he was Head of Collection Development and Acquisitions. There he used his professional knowledge and expertise in various subjects to build a strong research collection, useful to faculty and students in all majors. As an educator, Lynn taught courses in library science to students working on their…

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Planning continues for the big Ozarks Program at the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, to be held from June 28 to July 9 on the National Mall in DC. Here are a few updates: Today, Thursday, October 13, 2022, Tom Peters will be meeting in Branson with various representatives of the tourism and outdoor recreation industry, exploring those themes of the program. Next Monday through Wednesday a team from the Smithsonian Institution (SI) will be in the Ozarks to continue working…

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The Missouri State University Libraries and the Springfield-Greene County Library District are collaborating again to organize and host a free public talk by Sarah Jane Nelson, author of a forthcoming biography of Max Hunter. Ballad Hunting with Max Hunter: Stories of an Ozark Folksong Collector, from the University of Illinois Press, is described in the blurb: “A traveling salesman with little formal education, Max Hunter gravitated to song catching and ballad hunting while on business trips in the Ozarks. Hunter recorded…

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The Missouri State University Libraries, anchored on the main Springfield campus, plans to administer the LibQUAL+ survey to the MSU higher education community before the end of the academic year next May.  Quoting from the LibQual website: “LibQUAL is a web-based survey offered by the Association of Research Libraries that helps libraries assess and improve library services, change organizational culture, and market the library. The survey instrument measures library users’ minimum, perceived, and desired levels of service quality across three…

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The Missouri State University Libraries is offering a professional development opportunity for up to 16 current library personnel to virtually attend the 2022 Access Services Conference. The annual conference is an opportunity for attendees to present and learn about issues related to circulation, reserves, interlibrary loan, student worker management, security, stacks maintenance and more. The conference will be held November 15 -17, 2022 in Atlanta, but the MSU contingent will attend virtually. The conference is being organized by Access Services…

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The MSU Libraries will host an opening reception for “Words and Pictures – The Power of Literacy through Portraits and Stories” an exhibition by Randy Bacon presented by Arvest Bank and Ozarks Literacy Council.   The grand opening event, free and open-to-the-public, will be held at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 11 in room 107 of Duane G. Meyer Library. Light refreshments will be served.   According to the artist’s website, “Randy is an award winning American photographer with an…

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Tom Peters, Dean of Library Services at the Missouri State University Libraries on the main Springfield campus, is a member of Signature Class 44 of Leadership Springfield.  According to the their website, “Leadership Springfield is the premier program for leadership development in the Ozarks, designed to inspire, develop and connect leaders to serve the Springfield community. In over 30 years of operating, we have graduated more than 2,000 community leaders who are motivated and inspired to make an impact.” On…

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On Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of this week, the publishing arm of the Ozarks Studies Institute, an ongoing initiative of the Missouri State University Libraries, is one of the vendors at the annual conference of the Missouri Library Association. This year the conference is being held in Springfield.  Managing Editor Elaina Kersey represented the OSI at this conference, showcasing OzarksWatch Magazine, published twice each year, and the six currently published books of the OSI, with more titles on the way.