Your source for what's new at Mizzou Libraries
Starting at noon on Sunday, April 21, Ellis Library will be open for 24 hours every day until 7 p.m. on Friday, May 10.
For a complete listing of hours, including for all specialized libraries, visit library.missouri.edu/hours.
Written by: Sophie Lanzone
There are many different resources located in Ellis Library, but one of the most helpful resources in my opinion are the writing tutors located on the first floor. The Writing Center has been supporting students at the University of Missouri for over 45 years. These tutors are available for anyone with a current pawprint, including faculty, postdocs, and distanced students at Mizzou. The Writing Center offers free in person appointments on campus, zoom appointments, and asynchronous responses through the Online Writery. What’s great about the Writing Center is that you can receive detailed feedback and revisions for any stage of the writing process, regardless of where you are in a certain assignment.
The Writing Center is staffed with 50 to 100 wonderful tutors during any given semester. This includes a combination of undergrads, graduates and post-graduate writers. Each tutor has undergone formal training and on top of that must attend regular training workshops throughout their employment. They can help with any writing project, including all course-related assignments, personal statements, cover letters, scholarship essays, creative writing pieces, or anything else you may need help with. All of this is done with support from an advisory board of faculty and staff from across campus that focus on specific majors.
If you are interested in making an appointment, you can go directly to the Writing Center’s website or you can go through the Libraries homepage and click on the dropdown menu, “In the Library.” Under that menu, click on “Writing Tutors,” go to appointments, and click the “Make An Appointment” tab. Each appointment can be up to 50 minutes and will help assist you at any stage of your project. If you are just looking for feedback or don’t want a face-to-face interaction, you can share an online submission to the Online Writery. This service is offered 24/7, is free, and follows the same steps as mentioned earlier just clicking on ‘The Online Writery’ instead of ‘Appointments.’ The writing tutors are wonderful resources offered here at Mizzou, and I encourage all of you to utilize them as much as you can!
The Digital Media and Innovation Lab (DMiL) in Ellis Library provides innovative technology and resources for your creative projects. The DMiL has an Audio Recording Booth, Digital Art Tools, and 3D Scanners in Room 156; interview recording room in Room 157, and a film studio in Room 3E21.
The DMiL is complemented by the Information Commons computers and equipment checkout at the checkout & information desk. The DMiL is available to students for class or personal projects.
You can make a reservation and check-in or stop by for a consultation in Room 153.
Monday – Thursday: 11:00am – 8:00pm
Friday: 11:00am – 3:00pm
Saturday: Closed
Sunday: 1:00pm – 5:00pm
Questions & Consultation email: ellisdml@missouri.edu
April is Mizzou’s Pride Month and is also Arab American Heritage month!
This year, not only are we celebrating stories of triumphs and struggles of the LGBTQ community, but also celebrating and recognizing Arab American heritage and culture.
Below are some books in our library collection you can check out to celebrate both of these months. And be sure to check out the dual book display in the Ellis library Colonnade.
Non-binary lives : an anthology of intersecting identities
The Velvet Mafia : the gay men who ran the Swinging Sixties
Queer ear : remaking music theory
Encyclopedia of embroidery from the Arab world
Written by: Lorelai Clubb
Like nearly everything in our world, paper ages. A crisp sheet of paper can become yellowed, faded, brittle, and very easy to tear. While most modern books are printed on acid-free paper, which can last hundreds of years, older materials are printed on paper that is much quicker to deteriorate. Considering that many vital historical documents and accounts are recorded on older, acidic paper, special measures are needed to preserve those primary sources so they can continue to be accessed and appreciated for years to come.
At the University of Missouri Libraries, we have an entire department devoted to the care, preservation, and sharing of these historical treasures. Special Collections contains rare books, historical maps, original prints, and other archival materials that can prove vital to any research project. To give just a few examples, Special Collections at Mizzou includes one of the only surviving manuscripts by renowned author Charlotte Brontë, several cuneiform clay tablets, and original illustrations of classic literature in a variety of languages. There’s so much more that cannot even be covered in this post!
Specialists who work in this area of MU Libraries have several guidelines they follow to ensure all the materials are given the best possible care. Some keys to preserving book health include:
Our Preservation & Conservation Librarian for Special Collections is Michaelle Dorsey, and she is a great addition to the library team! If you have any questions about Special Collections, contact her via email at DorseyM@missouri.edu. She’s the expert, and the one behind the scenes repairing materials or working on things like phase boxes to ensure they last as long as possible.
No matter your major, there is something in Special Collections to help you with your research or class assignments. Beyond that, it’s just a fascinating place to visit, or to bring your family when they’re in town! Since materials are stored in the specific ways mentioned above, librarians will pull materials based on your research, or just personal interest before you come, so it’s important to make an appointment ahead of time. Be sure to visit https://libcal.missouri.edu/reserve/readingroom to schedule your visit to the special collections room 24 hours in advance.
Written by: Alyssa Westhoff
Ellis Library has over 3.5 million books available to check out. Patrons are more than welcome to come in and search for material in person, but there is also a quick and convenient option for those who would prefer to place a request from home – contactless pickup lockers that are available 24/7. They are located in the vestibule of the West entrance of Ellis Library, between Speakers Circle and Bookmark Cafe. These lockers provide a way for patrons to find, request, and obtain the books they are looking for at the highest level of convenience!
To place a request online, students can go to the homepage of our library website, https://library.missouri.edu/. The blue box titled “Discover at MU” has a search bar to type in a title, or any keywords of the book they are looking for. Once the item they are looking for is found, they can click the “Place Request” link in blue letters. This will prompt the selection of a location, with the option of “MU Ellis Library Pickup Lockers.” These lockers are also offered in Health Sciences Library. Patrons can go through the same sequence as before, just choosing “Lottes Locker” as their location instead.
After selecting the correct location and confirming the request, an email will be sent with more details including confirmation when their material is ready for pickup, along with their locker number and access code. This is a great resource that I didn’t know about before I started working at Ellis as a Peer Navigator. Hopefully, these lockers can encourage more students to use the materials our libraries have to offer!
Written by: Clementine Arneson
With the seemingly endless line of research papers that I have been assigned at Mizzou, I have a lot of experience looking for scholarly, peer-reviewed articles. The Ellis Library website is a great place to find such papers, and allows you to filter by type of resource, year of publication, language, and more. However, one library just can’t have all the resources and articles in the world. With that being said, Ellis Library can provide students with free access to journal articles outside of our own collections – there’s just one extra step in the process.
If you’ve found an article on Google Scholar that sits behind a paywall, or the link on Ellis’s website doesn’t pull up the full text, you can use Ellis’s Interlibrary Loan service to access the article for free.The simplest way to do this is to use the link attached to the article you want to access. On Ellis’s catalog website, you will often see a link that says “FindIt@MU” attached to journal articles. Sometimes this will allow you to pull up the article right away, but sometimes it will prompt you to proceed to interlibrary loan. If you see a link that says, “Article not online? Request a copy,” click there. It will take you directly to the ILL page, and after logging in, it will have filled out the information on the form automatically. You can link Google Scholar to FindIt@MU in order to be able to follow these steps there as well. (Here is a guide to that process: https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/quickguides/googlescholarAddon).
You can also fill out this form yourself from Ellis Library’s main website. Under the “Quick Links” section of our homepage, at the bottom left portion of the screen, you will see a link to “ILL@MU.” Click this link, log in with your Mizzou pawprint and password, then click “New Requests” at the top of the screen. After choosing the type of media you are requesting, you will be prompted to fill out a form with information about the source you need. Most articles are electronic, so a PDF of the article might be ready in a few hours, although it could take a couple days if it’s difficult to find a library with a copy of.
MU partners with other libraries that have access to different databases than we do, so they are able to send us copies of their resources, and we can do the same for them. This same premise applies to all types of resources. If another library has a book you need, you can request a PDF of a chapter of that book. You can also request the whole book using this webpage (but check MOBIUS first: https://library.missouri.edu/news/ellis-library/peer-navigator-corner-mobius-lending).
An edition of Pierrot y la luna, a dramatic poem by Cuban poet Nancy Morejón, is on display in the Special Collections and Archives reading room through the end of April. The book was designed by Rolando Estévez, the director of the Cuban book arts collective called Ediciones Vigía, and is on loan from a private collection.
Ediciones Vigía was founded in 1985 by artist Rolando Estévez and poet Alfredo Zaldívar in Matanzas, Cuba, a city known for its poets and Afro-Cuban culture. Members of Ediciones Vigía crafted books using ordinary supplies that were easy to procure: brown paper, found objects, and repurposed materials. Each publication was released in an edition of two hundred or fewer copies. Vigía books often contain an element of playful surprise in the form of foldouts, flaps, and insertions. All Vigía books feature the oil lamp as a symbol of the workshop, which Estévez included as “a bright light that is a humble light, an intimate and familiar light.”
More Ediciones Vigía books will be on view in the Ellis Library Colonnade in April in conjunction with the conference Afro-Cuban Legacies: Visual Arts, Literature, Theatre, Music and Religion.
Written by: Laide Agunbiade
The Cast Gallery in Ellis Library provides Mizzou students a unique opportunity to dive into art, history, and culture without ever having to leave campus! As you walk through the familiar corridors of Ellis, surrounded by the comforting scent of books and the stress of school, it’s easy to overlook the hidden treasures that are within the walls of the library.
On the second floor when you enter the quiet study area, you’ll find yourself surrounded by an impressive array of statues, but they’re all over Ellis as well. The gems that were hidden away for years are now on display to be seen by all.
However, the cast’s journey to Mizzou didn’t begin within the walls of Ellis Library. Their origins trace back to the vision of John C. Pickard and his vision for bringing cultural pieces to Mizzou. In the late 19th century, Pickard created the foundation for Mizzou’s Department for Classical Archaeology by collecting over 100 pieces of artwork. From ancient Greek sculptures to Renaissance masterpieces, Pickard created a gallery with a range of diverse pieces.
As the pieces began to arrive in 1896-1902, they were installed in Jesse Hall before being relocated to Pickard Hall in 1975. There, they displayed Pickard’s legacy and deep appreciation of the arts.
In the spring semester of 2022, the gallery moved to another home on campus, finding a new residence within Ellis Library. Mizzou’s decision to do this showed their effort to share a significant hidden treasure, mixed in with lore of its forgotten past, to make the art accessible to all users who pass through Ellis Library.
As Mizzou is gearing up for the introduction of the Museum of Art and Archaeology collection, which will be located on the lower floor of Ellis Library, this is a perfect time to spotlight the art Pickard brought to campus years ago. The pieces that we walk past daily will serve as a reminder of the university’s rich tapestry.
So, the next time you find yourself coming to study, print, or just wander the halls of Ellis Library, I urge you all to take a moment to explore the gems of our Cast Gallery. Who knows what insights and inspirations you might discover through Ellis’ silent guardians!
By: Alyssa Westhoff
Ellis Library has so many amazing resources that I did not know about before I started working as a peer navigator. One of my favorites is the Digital Media and Innovation Lab (DMiL), which provides technology for any creative projects students might be working on, and also provides hands-on support to learn how to use any of the technologies you might be unfamiliar with.
On the first floor of the library, in room 156, the DMiL has an Audio Recording Booth, Digital Art Tools, and 3D scanners. The Audio Recording Booth is a one-person sound booth with microphones, soundboards, Macs, and software for recording audio. Wacom Tablets, Cassette Digitization, and 3D mice can also be found in the DMiL, in addition to more tools that can be used to create and animate any project and bring it to life.
Right next door in room 157 is an interview recording room. It is similar to the one-person audio booth but can hold up to four people at a time. This room is perfect for recording a podcast, interview, or any other multi-person project.
Upstairs on the third floor, in room 3E21, is a film studio that has a green screen, LED lamps, and tripod stands. This room can hold up to 4-5 people at a time. Cameras and other recording equipment is available to be checked out at the Circulation Desk, but you are also welcome to bring your own!
All of the DMiL resources are available for use by making an appointment through the library website. To schedule an appointment, click the yellow “In the Library” tab on the homepage. A drop-down menu will appear with a “Digital Media Lab” tab as an option. Click on this link and it will take you to the Digital Media and Innovation Lab page. Located in the top right corner is a white box titled “Hours and Reservations” with a yellow “Make a Reservation” link inside. Click this yellow link and you will be brought to the calendar where you can choose the space and time you would like to reserve. On the day of your appointment, make sure to check in with lab staff before you begin!
