Library Notes

Ken Meyer, a successful local businessman, philanthropist, and long-time supporter of Missouri State University, including the MSU Libraries, passed away earlier this week. He was 94 years old.  He was born in October of 1927 near tiny Hoberg in Lawrence County, Missouri. As an adult, Mr. Meyer transitioned the family farm to grapes as the principal crop, which resulted in Meyer Farms Wine.  Meyer graduated from Missouri State University in 1950 with a degree in business education. He became a…

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This week and next another series of active shooter response training sessions are being offered on a voluntary basis to MSU faculty and staff who regularly work in Duane G. Meyer Library on the main Springfield campus of Missouri State University.  Similar training was held several years ago.  Staff members from University Safety are designing and delivering these refresher sessions. These two-hour small group sessions include time where participants will be toured around parts of the building by University Safety….

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For yet another year, the ever-popular and unique Rare Wine, Rare Books event organized by the Missouri State University Libraries has sold out. Over 80 guests will gather on Friday evening, July 22nd in Duane G. Meyer Library on the main Springfield campus of Missouri State University.  This year Rare Wine, Rare Books celebrates everything French – French cuisine, wine and, of course, rare books. The event features a carefully selected six-flight wine menu and sumptuous full-course dinner. Throughout the…

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Oral histories, during which recorded interviews are made with people who lived in a certain place, at a certain time, who lived through certain events, are made, preserved, and made available to researchers and members of the general public for current and future use. They capture the thoughts, memories, and feelings of real people, in their own words and their own voices. Oral histories complement and supplement other forms of historical research and preserving documentation about various aspects of history. …

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BearWorks is a record of publication, research and scholarship at Missouri State University. As the Institutional Repository (IR) for MSU, BearWorks collects and preserves access to the scholarly work of the University’s faculty, students and staff. The papers and theses available through BearWorks continue to be heavily downloaded and used. The current top ten titles are: The thesis on Guerrilla Warfare in the Philippines has been downloaded 5,273 times in 26 months. The thesis Groups Satisfying the Converse to Lagrange’s…

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Last month Rachel Besara presented a talk entitled “Evaluating Library Support Platforms (LSPs) for Adoption: A Case Study” at the Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries (QQML) Conference in Athens, Greece.  This talk was co-authored by former Head of Library Information Systems at Missouri State University, Brooks Travis, who is now employed as a Senior FOLIO Implementation Consultant by EBSCO Information Services.  The presentation focused on what structure and metrics were used in the evaluation of LSP proposals at MSU…

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The online MarooNation Book Club, which began over two years ago, has selected the memoir Lake of the Ozarks: My Surreal Summers in a Vanishing America, by Bill Geist for its summer read. As usual, Craig Amason from the MSU Libraries will facilitate the online discussion, in collaboration with the MSU Alumni Association.  Geist’s memoir of the eight summers in the Sixties he spent working at Arrowhead Lodge, now gone, near Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri is an…

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Today is Dr. Frank Einhellig’s final day at MSU following his long, dedicated, successful service to MSU and higher education as an academic researcher, teacher, author, dean of the graduate school, and provost. We all thank him and wish him the best in his well-earned retirement.  In his final month at MSU, the Provost recommended that as many employees as possible read and reflect on a recent report published by the Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE): The Library of the…

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The National Mall in DC rang with sounds from the Ozarks last Sunday as we offered a musical preview of the 2023 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. The performance celebrated the rich musical landscape of the Ozarks region, from a decades-long old-time music jam session in rural Missouri, to some of the youngest talents on the vibrant bluegrass scene in Arkansas. To open the show, a trio of skilled musicians led an old-time Ozarks jam session. Musicians at the McClurg Jam in…

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The exhibit “Those Who Served: A Look at Military Collections in Special Collections and Archives” is on display now through September 16 in Duane G. Meyer Library 306.  This exhibit includes materials from many archival collections in the MSU Libraries.