Library Notes

On the first level of the Duane G. Meyer Library, patrons can find a display of National French Week projects created during the fall 2024 semester. Encased in glass, the objects are the work of approximately 28 students from the classes of Jeff Loughary, an Instructor in the Languages, Cultures, and Religions Department at Missouri State University. The works, which includes paintings, sketches, photographs, and artifacts, showcase the culture of France and French Polynesia. It will be on display until…

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On behalf of everyone at Meyer Library… Happy Holidays! Best wishes for winter break!  If you’re bored and longing for a book, you might try making a snowasaurus. Picture of vintage snow dinosaur on Missouri State University campus. Photo courtesy of Tracie-Gieselman-France of Special Collections & Archives. See you next year!

After the success of Living Waters: Springs of Missouri and Saving Bull Creek, the Ozarks Studies Institute is publishing retired Springfield biologist Loring Bullard’s memoir. This third book is now in production, with publication on track for 2025. Currently titled An Environmental Journey: Tales of Tragedy and Hope from the Heartland, this eloquent book reflects on the 73-year-old author’s life from his 1950s and ’60s urban and rural American childhood through college and adulthood and up to his retirement and…

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It has been almost two years since the Missouri State University Libraries launched the library media specialist graduate certificate program in partnership with the College of Education. Thus far, it has done very well. According to the Graduate Program Director, Crystal Dicke, the program, which began in January 2023, currently has 59 enrolled students. “We are the fastest growing graduate certificate at the university,” said Tracy Stout, Head of Research and Instructional Services in the Duane G. Meyer Library and…

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On Monday, December 9, 2024, the Duane G. Meyer Library hosted its first ever Fizz & Focus, a soda bar to refresh students who were studying for finals. 339 students participated in the event, which took place in the library’s lobby.  Brynna Wehner, a sophomore at Missouri State University and a Marketing and Communications Assistant, came up with the idea for Fizz & Focus. “Right now, soda bars are popping up all over the place,” she said, noting that a…

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The Duane G. Meyer Library has hired two Distributed User Support Specialists. Scott Goodwin and Joshua Brotherton were hired in November after much anticipation. “November is the month of Thanksgiving in many ways,” said retired dean, Tom Peters, who presided over the library at the time of their appointments.  Distributed User Support Specialists (DUSS) do many things for the library. They facilitate the smooth operation of computer workstations and other technology. From scheduling student worker to training and supervising student…

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Reading through the acknowledgements for a new book on the history of the Landers Theater brings back memories of Covid. As author Kara DeBacker notes, Special Collections staff were willing to work with her to make the archival holdings contained in MSU’s Meyer Library available for her project. The resulting work, The Landers: Biography of a Theater, is a riot of color images, memories, and details about the people and productions in the theater. “It’s always exciting to see the…

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The Duane G. Meyer Library will have 19 rooms on the second floor renovated by the Missouri State University Campus Construction Team. Renovations are expected to be completed by February 2025, and a fresh coat of paint is just the beginning. “Our study rooms haven’t been updated since they were built,” said Holly Kouns, Coordinator of Public Services. “Students told us that there are certain study rooms you want because of the chairs.” For student’s seating comfort and functionality, the…

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Tonight at 8 p.m. on Ozarks Public Television’s show Sense of Community, authors Tom Koob and Curtis Copeland will be featured in conversation with host Gregory Holman to discuss their latest book, On The River: A History of the Ozarks Float Trip, published this summer by the Ozarks Studies Institute. Complete with personal interviews, classic photographs and historic newspaper and magazine articles, On The River examines the guides, camps, outfitters and gear that spawned and grew the distinctive sport of…

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Staff in Meyer Library’s Access Services department volunteered at Ozarks Food Harvest Food Bank last week as a part of their inclusive excellence goals. The group stretched their creative muscles as they crafted cards for the Weekend Backpack program. The Backpack program provides nutritious meals for children to take home every Friday for the entire school year. More than 1,700 children in 60+ schools in Springfield and across the Ozarks benefit from the program that began in 2003. Each backpack…

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