Library Notes

This year Paige Harp, coordinator of the Infant Through Grade 12 (IG12) efforts of the Missouri State University Libraries, is serving as chair of the jurors who will decide the fourth annual SEE-IT awards, sponsored by EBSCO. The shortlist of finalists will be announced this spring, and the award will be made during the ALA Annual Conference in Chicago in late June.  According to EBSCO, “The SEE-IT (Stories Engagingly Expressed — Illustratively Told) Awards were created to recognize and showcase…

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Susanna Reichling recently represented Missouri State University at the 89th Annual Music Library Association  (MLA) National Conference held in Norfolk, VA. While there, she presented a “lightning session” on “Using Augmented Reality (AR) as a Discovery Tool in the Library,” highlighting three ways that augmented reality layers can be added to bulletin boards, displays, shelf tags, and even individual books on the shelves to help engage users with the collection. According to the conference website, “These short presentations will convey…

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This January, Paige Harp, the Coordinator for the Children’s and Young Adult Book Review Board of Missouri (BRB), presented four review writing workshops with the 5th grade classes at Phelps Center for Gifted Education.

On Friday evening, February 28, 2020, approximately 30 people gathered in the Santa Fe Room of the Library Station on North Kansas Expressway to celebrate Black History Month by listening to award-winning storyteller Gladys Caines Coggswell. Ms. Coggswell is a recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award by the Missouri Humanities Council and author of the book, Stories from the Heart: Missouri’s African American Heritage. Ms. Coggswell was assisted in her presentation by Angela Williams, her apprentice.  This “Feast of Stories” event…

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An exhibit on the history of the Plaster Student Union (PSU) bowling alley is now on display on the 3rd floor of the PSU, using material from the University Archives in Meyer Library’s Special Collections and Archives.  Included in the display are photos and documents ranging from the 1960s to the 2010s.  The bowling alley on the 1st floor of the student union recently closed after more than 50 years, due to decreasing popularity with students and increasing maintenance costs.  The…

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The oversized books in the main circulating collection of the MSU Libraries are being moved and consolidated in the newly renovated Skylight Area on the east side of the Second Level of Duane G. Meyer Library. The new location will make the collection of oversized books more accessible and browsable for everyone, with every topic in one convenient location. The new furniture is comfortable and attractive.  Feel free to stop by anytime the library is open to see the newly…

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The massive, multi-year project to renovate and update all of the public areas in Duane G. Meyer Library on the Springfield campus of Missouri State University continues. This week a new set of six diner booths was installed just north of the Living Room on the main level of the library. Already they are proving to be very popular with library users. Rows of diner booths also are located on the Lower Level near the Innovation Lab, and on the…

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Meyer Library administration collaborated with faculty members Laura Derrick and Nancy Asay and approximately 50 of their students enrolled in HID 201 – Studio 1 during the Fall 2019 semester.  This class focused on observing and assessing of MSU Library space use with the goal of making recommendations for changes and projects. Some of their findings and recommendations are below. Student Observations: The Second Level atrium is the space most consistently populated by studiers Stairs are used by more users…

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Rebekah McKinney has been named the new library director for Missouri State University – West Plains. She will direct both Garnett Library on the West Plains campus and Barbe Library in Mountain Grove.  Prior to coming to MSU-West Plains, Ms. McKinney served as library director at the Jung-Kellogg Learning Center at Missouri Baptist University in St. Louis. That Learning Center was renovated in the Fall of 2019.  She will assume her new role and responsibilities on March 24th.  Welcome, Rebekah! 

On Tuesday afternoon, February 25, 2020, the theater troupe that has been performing The Milly Project for a year now made a special performance for Leadership Springfield Class 38, which includes Lindsey Taggart and Tyler Drenon from the Missouri State University Libraries.  Milly Sawyers was a black woman, a former slave, who was pulled out into the street and beaten by some of Springfield’s founders after gaining her freedom in 1835. Two years ago, Giacomo (Jack) Bologna, a reporter at…

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