Library Notes

Because the Missouri State University Libraries will be leaving the MOBIUS Library Consortium at the end of June, a new LSP (Library Services Platform), new agreements for some e-resources, and a new courier service are being chosen, finalized, and implemented. The MSU Libraries is in the process of entering into an agreement with MALA (Mid-America Library Alliance) to provide courier services for physical information materials, such as books, for FY21, beginning July 1, 2020.  According to the MALA website: “Located…

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Earlier this month, the Missouri State University Libraries announced that the following summer innovation grant applications from faculty and staff of the Libraries have been funded:  First FOLIO at MSU Migration (Raegan Wiechert): Will work on projects related to the migration, such as: pre-migration clean-up projects, clean-up of errors identified during test migrations, mapping projects, overseeing elements of the migration related to cataloging, receiving and providing training, attending meetings, post-migration clean-up. EDS Implementation and Online Instruction (Crystal Dicke): Will work…

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When the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly, effectively closed campus last month, students, faculty, and staff had to shelter in place and shift gears quickly to different modes of teaching, learning, research, service, and work.  To help MSU students and their families transition to remote, online learning, MSU has undertaken a massive phone effort to check up on tens of thousands of students and their families, to learn how they are doing, and whether they need additional assistance from the university. Several…

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The Missouri State University Libraries offers several digital databases in the Biography category. A stand-out among these is Biography Reference Bank.   With over 230,000 biographical profiles from a host of high quality Wilson biographical resources, including Current Biography, the World Authors Series, and the Junior Authors & Illustrators series, this is an excellent full-text resource on current celebrities, authors, historical figures, and others. Biography Reference Bank Select Edition includes profiles licensed from a number of respected reference publishers. The…

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For several years now, the Missouri State University Libraries has offered a chat reference service, enabling users to ask questions and receive prompt responses right online, while they seek, use, and create information. When the physical libraries on campus closed abruptly in March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MSU Libraries expanded its hours of chat reference service and made it even easier to find and use on the Libraries’ website.  In just one month, from mid-March to mid-April,…

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This spring and summer, several acquisitions team members will be participating in “Fundamentals of Electronic Resources Acquisitions,” a four-week online course hosted by ALCTS (The Association for Library Collections and Technical Services). The course provides an overview of acquiring, providing access to, administering, supporting, and monitoring access to electronic resources. 

The COVID-19 pandemic reminds us of a severe influenza pandemic that spread worldwide in 1918-1920, and researchers often ask about archival materials that document this time period on campus. Missouri State University’s Special Collections and Archives’ staff pull from various collections to provide an idea of how the pandemic impacted campus and the Ozarks, but the campus did not address the pandemic like one would expect. Due to World War I, the student yearbook the Ozarko wasn’t published from 1918 to 1921. The…

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To better support the needs of our Dual Credit students, E-Learning Librarian Jessica Bennett created customized Subject Guides for 134 high schools participating in MSU’s Dual Credit program across the state of Missouri.  Each guide contains a welcome video, a page containing basics for beginning research, pages specific to the courses taught at that high school, a tutorials page, and a faculty resources page.   The Missouri State University Libraries has long supported English Dual Credit students with tailored Information Literacy…

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For years now, the MSU Libraries has provided online access to premium content from The Chronicle of Higher Education (except for the Daily Briefing newsletter) to all MSU users, wherever they are located. For years the Office of the Provost has provided financial support for this service, but currently, during this “Stay at Home” order, this anywhere-anytime access to CHE content and reporting is especially appreciated.  The Libraries’ subscription can be accessed either directly through this link  (suitable for bookmarking)…

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