home Cycle of Success, J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library Twenty Years of Successful Partnership

Twenty Years of Successful Partnership

By Taira Meadowcroft Posted in Cycle of Success J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library

Posted on April 17, 2019January 21, 2021

“The health sciences library is a jewel in the Mizzou library system,” says Dr. Vicki Conn, Professor Emerita at the Sinclair School of Nursing.

As a faculty member at the nursing school, Dr. Conn focused on why patients wouldn’t take their prescribed medications and finding ways to increase exercise in chronically ill adults. Her research spanned over many years and credits Diane Johnson with helping her throughout the journey.

“I was the principal investigator of three National Institutes of Health [NIH] R01 grants for enormous projects and [Diane’s] expertise was critical for securing funding,” relays Dr. Conn. Diane remained on the grants after the funding was secured, being named a co-investigator to assist with the “hard work,” as Dr. Conn calls it.

“[Diane] worked with my research staff to facilitate our easy access to the results of searches. For one of our projects, we evaluated over 37,000 potential studies for inclusion. The vast majority of those 37,000 were located by Diane. Diane was a central member of our research team.” With Diane as a member of the research team and closely working with the other researchers, allowed her to completely understand the project. Diane could easily adapt and change with search as needed and know the exact information the team found most beneficial.

Dr. Conn’s and her team also made great use of the library’s interlibrary loan (ILL) department, requesting articles if they needed to be reviewed in their entirety. If the articles weren’t available on campus, ILL borrowed them from other libraries, making sure Dr. Conn and her research team had access to the articles necessary for their grants.

These services were something Dr. Conn highly valued over the twenty years of working with Diane and the library. “I suggest people become acquainted with a librarian. It is very important for the librarian to understand your program of research. A librarian who completely understands your program of research can by a wonderful research collaborator.”

Cycle of Success is the idea that libraries, faculty, and students are linked; for one to truly succeed, we must all succeed. The path to success is formed by the connections between University of Missouri Libraries and faculty members, between faculty members and students, and between students and the libraries that serve them. More than just success, this is also a connection of mutual respect, support, and commitment to forward-thinking research.

If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.

home Cycle of Success MU Student Uses Scary Experience to Inspire Her Art

MU Student Uses Scary Experience to Inspire Her Art

By Shannon Cary Posted in Cycle of Success

Posted on April 10, 2019May 2, 2019

A terrifying event that happened during a study abroad trip became the inspiration for a Summer Richie’s award-winning art project. Richie, a senior psychology major at Mizzou, said a guy chased her down a New Zealand street yelling at her. When she returned to her flat she told her flat mate who said, “Boys will be boys.”

That phrase stuck with Summer. “In my mind, it has a negative connotation. Other people use it in a light-hearted way. If a boy messes with a girl, people say – what can you do? But then it becomes used to justify his behavior.”

Summer took the popular saying and turned it into an art piece for her fibers class. She bought three used books at the Goodwill for the project. She said she’s always loved redacted poetry and had the idea to cross out every word except the words “boys will be boys.”

It took her longer that she expected because “each book had 300 pages and there were three books, that was 900 pages,” she said. She did all the work by herself, and it took her a couple of months to complete the project, which included handmade papers and cyanotype prints.

Her professor told the class about the Visual Art and Design Showcase (VADS) in Jesse Hall. Summer sent pictures of her books and was accepted into the exhibition, which ran for three weeks in February. She was one of 51 Mizzou students from various majors selected to participate.

Her three books were displayed on pedestals to be judged and viewed by the public. During the reception, Summer encouraged people to touch the books. She stated,“ I wanted the pink and fuzziness of the books to draw people in so they wouldn’t be expecting what was there.” She felt most people understood her message of the redacted pages of the books.

One of Summer’s books was also on display last fall in Ellis Library as part of Assistant Professor C. Pazia Mannella’s Intermediate/Advanced Fibers class in an exhibit called Handle with Care. Richie’s book was one of eight from the class to be accessioned into the University of Missouri’s Special Collections and has since been shared with undergraduate classes and during a Friends of the Libraries event featuring artists’ books from the collections.

The books will be displayed during the month of April in the Ellis Library.

Written by Christina Mascarenas

home Cycle of Success, J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library Providing Access to Resources Directly to Students

Providing Access to Resources Directly to Students

By Taira Meadowcroft Posted in Cycle of Success J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library

Posted on March 20, 2019April 18, 2019

This guest post is written by Dr. Marilyn James-Kracke, Associate Professor of Medical Pharmacology and Physiology.

With the help of Rebecca Graves, Educational Services Librarian, and Mike Spears, System Support Analyst, my students in medical pharmacology are included in the list of students who can use UpToDate and its Lexi-comp drug database for 15 assignments that teach information technology to premedical and prehealth professional students. Each assignment explores different components of drug monographs, drug interactions reports, calculators for renal function, disease treatment strategies and pill identifiers etc.

My students greatly appreciate this opportunity for professional training. These assignments provide additional valuable active learning components to this advanced basic science course.

For the Medical Physiology course and the Medical Pharmacology course, I provide direct links within the CANVAS course components to electronic textbooks so students can freely access any part of these well recognized textbooks using the library fees they pay as students. The students feel that I have their best interest at heart by saving them textbook dollars while also providing access to quality textbooks.

Thank you librarians for providing these excellent services to my students. I’m glad my students get a great library experience so they learn to value these resources as future professionals.

If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.

home Cycle of Success, Ellis Library, Special Collections and Archives Librarians Help Prepare High School Students for College

Librarians Help Prepare High School Students for College

By Taira Meadowcroft Posted in Cycle of Success Ellis Library Special Collections and Archives

Posted on February 20, 2019March 20, 2019

The Missouri Scholars Academy brings 330 gifted high school juniors from around the state to the University of Missouri Campus. “With a carefully selected faculty and staff, a specially designed curriculum that focuses on the liberal arts, and a variety of stimulating extracurricular activities, the academy enables students to be part of a unique learning community.” One of those stops for the academy is the library.

Last year, the students visited with Rachel Brekhus, Humanities and Social Sciences Librarian, who assisted the students with finding primary historical sources and secondary scholarly sources. The collaboration was so successful that, Ben Balzer, one of the Missouri Scholars instructors, jumped at the chance for his science fiction students to attend Rachel’s research workshop during the 2018 session as well as expanding that collaboration to include Kelli Hansen, Special Collections Librarian.

“Their work with my students was, in short, amazing! I extended my collaboration to Kelli because of how much last year’s students enjoyed working with library resources,” says Ben. Both his science fiction and censorship in literature classes met with Kelli, who provided literary texts from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries for the scholars to examine. The scholars looked at items ranging from a comic version of 2001, A Space Odyssey to a rare copy of Utopia by Thomas More. Ben found this opportunity provided his students the ability “to see the rich artistic tradition that underpins the literature we read today.” The scholars left their visit to Special Collections inspired and excited to work on their research projects.

Ben sees this collaboration being a regular component of his classes. “I want high school students to gain familiarity with university resources so they will feel prepared to make good use of academic libraries when they arrive on college campuses. Students of literature should also be introduced to the social, political, ethical, and historical significance of the texts they read. Working with research librarians helps students better recognize these broader contexts and how they enrich literary study,” says Ben.

Although the Cycle of Success typically focuses on the relationships among the Libraries, faculty, and students, the Libraries also contribute to the success of all the communities Mizzou serves. The Libraries are an integral part of Mizzou’s mission “to provide all Missourians the benefits of a world-class research university.”

If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.

home Cycle of Success, Ellis Library When You Find Your Oracle at the Library

When You Find Your Oracle at the Library

By Taira Meadowcroft Posted in Cycle of Success Ellis Library

Posted on January 28, 2019February 20, 2019

This is a guest post written by Dr. Jessie Adolph, an instructor of English at Lincoln University.

oracle | ˈôrək(ə)l | noun 1 a priest or priestess acting as a medium through whom advice or prophecy was sought from the gods in classical antiquity. • a place at which divine advice or prophecy was sought. • a person or thing regarded as an infallible authority or guide on something: casting the attorney general as the oracle for and guardian of the public interest is simply impossible. 2 archaic a response or message given by an oracle, typically one that is ambiguous or obscure.

Dr. Paula Roper, who I affectionately call “The Oracle” served a crucial role in my development as an educator and a scholar. During our collaborations on subject topics for English 1000, she transformed the library from a center of archaic readings into a vibrant prophetic learning experience. She introduced my students to peer-reviewed sources and resource methods making my lessons on historical trauma, spoken-word poetry, and hip-hop culture relative to the lives of my students. Explicitly, she instructed my students about African and Global Studies traditions influencing popular culture in America. The undergraduates learned “Nommo,” the power of the word (an Akan word meaning “To Make One Drink), can be utilized as a form of resistance and/or healing to build community. In other words, the young scholars learned they had a voice which can create the sound of power to change their reality. This in mind, she inspired me as an academic to utilize my voice for change.

Dr. Paula Roper, the Oracle, and Mizzou library helped me to earn my Ph.D. in Africana Diaspora Studies. My dissertation entitled “Dee-Jay Drop that Deadbeat;” Hip-hop’s Remix of Fatherhood Narratives” an interdisciplinary project required a substantial amount of research. Specifically, I examined hip-hop fatherhood narratives that constructed imagery of African American fathers and Black identity formation. Dr. Roper proved instrumental to the project by assisting me to compile an eclectic reading list African diasporic, history, sociology, and psychological to complete my task. She helped me to maximize my time at the library—I could not have become Dr. Adolph without her expert-tutelage.

If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.

home Cycle of Success, Special Collections and Archives Inspiring Inquiry and Discovery Leads to Student Success

Inspiring Inquiry and Discovery Leads to Student Success

By Taira Meadowcroft Posted in Cycle of Success Special Collections and Archives

Posted on November 12, 2018December 10, 2018

This past year, Kate Harlin, a PhD student and graduate instructor, won the Gus Reid Award from the English Department. Gus Reid, having taught composition within this program, donated funds to support an award for graduate students and other instructors who teach exploratory/persuasive writing. The award stipulates that each recipient “should not only be a good writer but an even better critic—one who views the job and self with both discipline and light-heartedness.” Kate applied with materials created from her international composition course, a course that greatly benefited from Kelli Hansen‘s Special Collections assistance.

Kate and Kelli collaborated on an assignment designed so students could choose an object in Special Collections that they wanted to learn more about, generate questions and use as an object to springboard into an exploratory essay. From the get go, this open ended assignment was ambitious, but Kate says, “Kelli was so open and flexible with us that she was able to pull items that got every student in the class excited.”

Kelli pulled a Physics textbook from the 1920s written in Arabic, which one of Kate’s students from Saudi Arabia was able to identify as a translation written by Mizzou professor Oscar Stewart. She also found a poetry manuscript, by Li He of the Tang Dynasty, written in Chinese that many of the Chinese speaking students were thrilled to look through. One of her students even submitted her work for the Mahan Freshman Essay Award and received an honorable mention.

“The best thing about these two examples is that it helped the international students to see themselves as experts and knowledge-producers, which can be hard for any first year college student, but is even more difficult when in a class that is all about a writing in a language that you’re still learning to master,” Kate says.

Kate suggests figuring out a way to incorporate Special Collections in your syllabus and if you don’t know how, reach out to your librarians.Special Collections provided examples that truly inspired Kate’s students and is one of the many reasons why she will continue to collaborate with Kelli for future classes.

“Every semester that I have brought students to Special Collections, I have received feedback that it was a major highlight of the semester! I value inquiry and discovery in the classroom, and there is no better venue for it than Special Collections.”

If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.

home Cycle of Success, J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library Good Things Happen When You Talk To Your Librarian

Good Things Happen When You Talk To Your Librarian

By Taira Meadowcroft Posted in Cycle of Success J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library

Posted on October 29, 2018February 9, 2024

Textbooks are a big expense for students and they are often met with the decision to buy or not to buy a textbook. Knowing textbooks can be an obstacle to his students’ education, Dr. Evan Prost, Associate Teaching Professor, decided to ask the library for assistance.

For the 59 students enrolled in Physical Therapy 6810 Case Management: Geriatrics and Orthopedics, the $111 cost per textbook was a hefty price tag. That’s a cost of $6,549 for the entire class to access Guccione’s Geriatric Physical Therapy Dr. Prost asked the library if there was a way his students to get access to this textbook without paying that astronomical price.

Dr. Prost consulted with Diane Johnson, information services librarian at the Health Sciences Library, to look into the options. While investigating, Diane found the library could purchase an unlimited user, online version of the textbook for $141. This would ensure all 59 students could view the book anytime, at the same time, day or night.

The online version provided instant access to the physical therapy students, along with searching and printing capabilities. Allie Lakie, a senior physical therapy student, took the time to email to show her cohort’s appreciation for the textbook access. “I just wanted to thank you for your help in us being able to access the Geriatric PT text by Guccione. We really appreciate it!”

Collaborations like these help to advance the University of Missouri’s system-wide efforts to lower the cost of education by addressing textbook costs through the AOER initiative. Libraries and affordability have always gone hand in hand, and the University Libraries are here to help faculty identify high quality, affordable teaching materials to use in their classes. (Read more). If you are interested in consulting with a librarian on how we can work together to keep your students’ textbooks affordable, contact your subject librarian.

If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.

home Cycle of Success, Ellis Library, J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library An Open Education Pioneer Continues Helping Students

An Open Education Pioneer Continues Helping Students

By Taira Meadowcroft Posted in Cycle of Success Ellis Library J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library

Posted on October 24, 2018November 7, 2018

To Dr. William Krause, education needs to be open and without borders. “We should share information. Not hold it for a select few to access.”

Since the beginning of his Mizzou career in 1971, Dr. Krause has been a proponent of helping students learn and giving them the resources they need. “I’ve always felt very strongly that any student, under my tutelage, should have all their materials provided for them.” He even went as far as writing a couple of textbooks, streamlining them to fit the educational needs of the medical students and taking the extra step to find a publisher to make the textbooks as cheap as possible.

For several years, Dr. Krause taught 96 medical students anatomy and histology. “It was very difficult for me to rotate to all the groups in the labs and answer their questions about the slides. [They] would get frustrated waiting to get my help,” says Dr. Krause. Wanting to make sure his students received the help they needed, he applied for and was awarded a grant to work with a multi-headed microscope for help sessions. With this new equipment, he could easily show this large group the slides. “After three or four years of doing this, even those sessions became too crowded. Everyone wanted the extra help.” Dr. Krause knew he had to find a better way to help his students. When a new chair of the department came on board, Dr. Krause took the opportunity to pitch the chair his new idea.

Screenshot of Dr. Krause’s Blood and Bone Marrow Video

“I wanted to place a camera in the eye piece of the microscope and record me narrating and using the electronic pointer in real time.” The new chair was sold on the idea and gave him the go ahead to buy and use any equipment he needed to create these videos. Dr. Krause developed a set of 24 video tutorials and provided DVD copies for each medical student. That’s a total of 2,304 DVDs per year, mostly out of his own pocket. Eventually, it became too expensive to continue making copies, not to mention the DVDs would damage over time. Dr. Krause turned to the library and asked how could he still provide access to these videos while finding cheaper means of doing so.

Diane Johnson at the Health Sciences Library suggested adding them to Google as it was new and could handle 96 students watching 24 videos. Once placed on Google, Dr. Krause started receiving notes of gratitude not only from his students, but from students all over the world thanking him for sharing his knowledge. After a few years, Google wanted Dr. Krause to shorten the videos. Dr. Krause felt that shortening them would make the videos less helpful. Once again, he turned to the library.

Wanting to keep the integrity of the videos, while still keeping freely available, Dr. Krause consulted with Diane Johnson about how best to proceed. She suggested the new repository the library was managing: MOSpace. Following her advice, Dr. Krause added the videos, along with accompanying educational pdfs, to MOSpace. “I was happy to add to MOSpace. It gives the opportunity for people to tap into information from anywhere and makes it more universal,” explains Dr. Krause.

Top Countries by Downloads from April 2018-October 2018

Dr. Krause, while retired now, still continues to help students here at Mizzou and all over the world. With a total of 4,053 views for the videos and close to 19,000 views for the educational pdfs, users are still finding Dr. Krause’s collection. During the month of September 2018, his videos were downloaded over 800 times.

Dr. Krause cannot be more excited about the open education movement at Mizzou. He may have missed the initiative by three years, but he is happy to know that things are changing on campus. “I am delighted I’ve been able to help so many people from so many areas. This is such a tremendous avenue to make material available in the easiest format possible for our students at [little to] no cost.”

Dr. Krause’s videos, blogs and textbooks are found in MOSpace, where they are free to view and download.

If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.

home Cycle of Success Edward McCain Receives NDSA Innovation Award

Edward McCain Receives NDSA Innovation Award

By Shannon Cary Posted in Cycle of Success

Posted on October 17, 2018October 31, 2018

We are delighted to announce the recipients of the National Digital Stewardship Alliance’s (NDSA) annual Innovation Awards!

Individual Award: Edward McCain, University of Missouri Libraries and Reynolds Journalism Institute
Organization Award: Texas Digital Library
Project Award: UC Guidelines for Born-Digital Archival Description
Educator Awards: Heather Moulaison Sandy
Future Steward Award: Raven Bishop

These awards highlight and commend creative individuals, projects, organizations, educators, and future stewards demonstrating originality and excellence in their contributions to the field of digital preservation.

As the Digital Curator of Journalism and founder of the Journalism Digital News Archive, Edward McCain has been and is a leading voice and passionate advocate for saving born digital news. He has advanced awareness and understanding of the crisis we face through the loss of the “first rough draft of history” in digital formats. In collaboration and with support from colleagues and community members, he has led the “Dodging the Memory Hole” outreach agenda. Thus far, five “Memory Hole” forums have brought together journalists, editors, technologists, librarians, archivists, and others who seek solutions to preserving born-digital news content for future generations. By bringing together thought leaders in the news industry and information science, the forums have broadened the network of stakeholders working on this issue and helped these communities gain critical insight on the challenges and opportunities inherent in preserving content generated by a diverse array of news media, both commercial and non-profit.

Edward McCain would like to mention that the following people have been essential to the success of the “Dodging the Memory Hole” outreach program:

Dorothy Carner, Ann Riley, Jim Cogswell, Mike Holland and Jeannette Pierce, University of Missouri Libraries
Randy PIcht, Reynolds Journalism Institute
Katherine Skinner, Educopia Institute
Peter Broadwell, Todd Grapone and Sharon Farb, UCLA Library
Martin Klein, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Brewster Kahle, Mark Graham and Jefferson Bailey, Internet Archive
Brian Geiger, University of California, Riverside
Anna Krahmer, University of North Texas
Senator Roy Blunt and his staff
Clifford Lynch, Coalition for Networked Information
Martin Halbert, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Jim Kroll, Denver Public Library
Leigh Montgomery, Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Eric Weig, University of Kentucky
Frederick Zarndt, Global Connections
The Institute for Museum and Library Services
The Mizzou Advantage
And last but not least, my wife, Rosemary Feraldi

home Cycle of Success, J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library Doctor Discovers Librarians Are On Her Research Team

Doctor Discovers Librarians Are On Her Research Team

By Taira Meadowcroft Posted in Cycle of Success J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library

Posted on October 15, 2018October 29, 2018

Dr. Elizabeth Malm-Buatsi didn’t know where to turn when she wanted to improve her standing as a researcher. As the only pediatric urologist at MU HealthCare, and often called away for surgeries, she had no built-in research team she could lean on. After flying solo for a few months, she found herself on the verge of abandoning projects she was passionate about, frustrated by the research process and unsure how to proceed. Luckily, a colleague suggested she contact Diane Johnson at the Health Sciences Library. Dr. Malm-Buatsi says that initial meeting was absolutely lifechanging

When she first contacted Diane, Dr. Malm-Buatsi was creating an educational flyer to give to parents about newborn circumcisions. In order to provide this vital information to parents about the process, she needed to find the best evidence-based research, but she already conducted a literature search and found no information after several hours of searching. Diane, however, was able to find the information in the matter of minutes, at least that’s how Dr. Malm-Buatsi describes it. “Ever since meeting Diane, my outlook on research projects has changed,” she says, “and I’ve learned to enjoy the process. She makes sure to keep me on track, makes the process easier, and helps me think critically about what I’m working on.”

Diane’s assistance wasn’t limited to the patient education project. Dr. Malm-Buatsi was also in the midst of applying for an internal grant related to the urinary microbiome. Diane conducted literature searches and created an EndNote Library, not only adding relevant articles, but also pointing out the most relevant sections of information. “Diane was able to cut the time I would’ve spent on researching in half.” Dr. Malm-Buatsi says the grant proposal was recently accepted, and she expects Diane will still be an integral contributor of the project. Diane has also found several additional grant opportunities for Dr. Malm-Buatsi to pursue.

Two projects wasn’t enough for Dr. Malm-Buatsi, though. She also wanted to assess residents’ satisfaction with and the perceived usefulness of an online surgical training system, including a pre-surgery assessment that allows the residents to set goals and view videos before surgery. They determined the best way to capture these qualitative results was developing a survey. Caryn Scoville, Information Services Librarian, consulted with Dr. Malm-Buatsi, designed the survey in Qualtrics, and distributed it to the residents. Dr. Malm-Buatsi and her colleagues submitted an abstract about their system, and although it hasn’t been accepted yet, she is positive it will, in large part because of Caryn’s behind-the-scenes work.

Looking to strengthen your own research profile? Dr. Malm-Buatsi suggests consulting with your librarians from day one of your project and learning how they can contribute to your research process. “They are so open and I feel I can bounce my ideas off of them,” she says. Dr. Malm-Buasi has also discovered an unanticipated benefit: “Now that I am in their minds, I often receive emails with suggestions or pieces of information related to my projects.Their help has had a huge impact on my career.”

If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.

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