Week of Writing Celebrates Mizzou’s Writing Communities and Resources
Office of the Provost, October 25, 2026
“A visit from Mizzou Special Collections & Rare Books”
Enns Entomology Museum, October 26, 2026
Shannon Cary
Free Equipment Checkout
Did you leave your laptop at home? Forgot your phone charger? Need a camera? The Checkout Desk at your library can help you out. A list of the available equipment can be found here. All equipment is available with your student ID. Materials can be renewed in person at the desk. There is a $2 fine for every hour it is returned late.
So, the next time you are studying all day at the library and your phone dies, don’t worry! Just head over to the Checkout Desk at your library.
Call for Proposals: 2027 Missouri Affordable and Open Educational Resources Conference
The Missouri Affordable and Open Educational Resources Conference invites you to share your research, ideas and best practices for using, creating or adapting A&OER.
Conference Theme and Schedule:
The theme of this year’s conference is, “Seeing the Forest AND the Trees: A&OER Across Missouri’s Landscape.” We hope to explore how A&OER is taking shape across Missouri, highlighting both the big-picture landscape and the individual efforts making a difference. This theme celebrates successes, encourages collaboration and explores opportunities to grow and strengthen open and accessible education across the state. The Conference will be held virtually on Tuesday, March 9, 2027.
Proposals:
We welcome proposals for presentations or panel discussions from faculty, librarians, instructional designers, students and any other educator or constituent involved in creating, using or adapting Affordable and Open Educational Resources. Proposals should keep the conference theme in mind, and you are encouraged to shape your proposed session to present your unique experiences with A&OER. We encourage you to actively engage your session participants with a hands-on activity or by providing them with other materials they can use.
Submission Details:
- The deadline for submissions is December 1, 2026.
- Proposals should include: Title; Abstract (approximately 250 words); Audience Learning Outcomes; and Information for each speaker (name, title, institution, short bio, and email address), and time available on March 9, 2027.
- Proposals can be submitted here.
- Submissions will be evaluated on their relevance and ability to contribute to the theme.
- The Conference Planning Committee will notify presenters of their decision in December.
If you have any questions please contact Jeannette Pierce, piercejea@missouri.edu or Abbie Brown, brownab@missouri.edu.
In the News
“Mizzou celebrates 2025-26 newly promoted faculty; milestone anniversaries”
Show Me Mizzou, October 15, 2026
“Columbia man arrested after viewing sexual content at MU library”
KCRG, Oct. 13, 2026
Library Management Team Notes
Watch Out for Fake Citations from ChatGPT
ChatGPT, one of the most popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, uses a language model to respond to questions and compose various written content. Many college students use ChatGPT to help them complete assignments. While there are times when this can be helpful, it has limitations as a reliable research assistant. One thing you need to watch out for is that ChatGPT will sometimes “hallucinate” (fabricate) citations. The citations may sound legitimate and scholarly, but they are not real. If you try to find these sources through Google or the library, you will search in vain.
If you need help finding resources on a topic, just Ask a Librarian to help you find real resources so you can be successful on your next assignment!
Build Your Research Identity with ORCID
Your research is important and we want to help you ensure it is making an impact. ORCID is a great way to start increasing your research impact with minimal effort.
What is ORCID?
An ORCID is a permanent unique identifier for researchers. Using your ORCID is more accurate and secure than a name: many people can have the same name but each ORCID is unique. They protect your unique scholarly identity and help you keep your publication record up-to-date with very little effort.
Why should you get an ORCID?
ORCID’s are permanent and will follow you throughout your entire career.
ORCID is increasingly used by individuals (e.g. as a signature in emails) and systems (e.g. in Scopus, PubMed), enabling recognition and discoverability.
ORCID automatically updates your profile from other systems – saving you time.
ORCID is unique to you.
How to get an ORCID ID?
Here is a detailed explanation of how to get your ORCID started. Reach out to the library for help!
Increase Your Scholarly Impact: Use the SPARC Author Addendum
Your article was recently accepted for publication and you want to make sure your research has the widest reach and impact. One way to make sure this happens is retaining your author rights.
Traditional publishing agreements sign your copyright away to the publisher, lessening your impact as an author. When you don’t hold your copyright, you might not be allowed to give copies to your class or distribute it among colleagues. And depending on what you sign, you aren’t allowed to put your article on your webpage or in an online depository, further limiting your exposure.
So how do you make sure you retain your copyright? Publishing agreements are negotiable. Know your rights and consider using the SPARC author addendum* to modify your agreement. The SPARC author addendum is a free and legal resource that helps you easily modify your publishing agreement.
Need help or have questions? Visit our know your rights guide or contact your subject librarian.
*The Author Addendum is a free resource developed by SPARC in partnership with Creative Commons, established non-profit organizations that offer a range of copyright options for many different creative endeavors.
Make Your Research Open
At Mizzou Libraries, we’re committed to making access to research more sustainable, affordable and open. And we need your help!
In traditional publishing models, scholars surrender their copyright to commercial publishers in order to disseminate their research findings in scholarly journals. Publishers then sell or rent that same content back to the institution through journal subscriptions—at ever increasing prices. This unsustainable practice costs institutions millions of dollars every year and creates barriers to access for many. Open access publishing encourages scholars to retain their rights and make their work freely available online, increasing the availability and impact of research.
What You Can Do:
Retain Your Rights: No matter where you publish, the single most important thing you can do to make scholarly publishing more sustainable and equitable is Retain Your Rights. It’s your copyright – don’t just sign it away! Contracts are often negotiable. And read those agreements: you may have more rights to share your research than you realize.
Know Your Options: Choose the right venue for your research and know your open access options. If you’re an editor or manuscript reviewer, ask about the journal’s OA options.
Share Your Work: Deposit your research in MOspace, MU’s Digital Institutional Repository. Submitting your work to MOspace is easy. Just log in with your SSO and complete the Creative Commons license.
Learn More: Talk with your Subject Specialist about open access in your area or request a Zoom workshop for your department, team or lab.
Publish Open Access for Free With Read & Publish Agreements
Publishing open access is a great way to keep research open and retain your copyright. We do understand that publishing open access comes with a financial commitment that you wouldn’t necessarily have with traditional publishing.
To help offset costs, Mizzou Libraries has agreements with several publishers that offer discounts and support of article processing charges (APCs) for the following journals.
Want to learn more? Talk with your subject librarian about open access in your area.