MU Libraries presents an online exhibit that documents the journey of the library of Geofroi Jacques Flach, a renowned bibliophile and professor of law, from France to Ellis Library in Columbia, Missouri. For forty years, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Professor Flach collected books on the political history of Europe, Mesopotamia, Russia, Japan and Ireland on the subjects of religion, feminism and other social causes. Especially notable are the St. Raymond de Peñafort manuscript Summa de poenitentiate et matrimonio, dating ca. 1200 AD, and Disputatio Inter Clericum et Militem, a rare incunabulum published in Paris in 1498.

Henry Ormal Severance, director of Ellis Library from 1907 until 1937, acquired the library of Professor Flach in Paris in March of 1920. This collection of approximately 6,000 volumes, many of which have Professor Flach’s original bookplates, is housed in Ellis Library’s Rare Books and Special Collections.

The online exhibit is available at http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/flach/index.htm.

During Intersession, McDonald’s will be open 7:30 am to 4 pm, Monday -Friday. Memorial Union’s Wheatstone Bistro will be open 10 am to 1:30 pm and the Starbuck’s will be open 7 am to 4 pm. No weekend hours.

The Black Studies Program presents “Giants of Black Thought: An Exhibition of Poster Presentations” by Spring 2009 Introduction to Black Studies students (Dr. David L. Brunsma).

Opening and Reception
Thursday, May 7
11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
Ellis Library, Room 202

Come see our students’ work and enjoy light refreshments. The students explore the following Giants:

W.E.B. DuBois
Patricia Hill Collins
Audre Lorde
Eldridge Cleaver
Maya Angelou
Marcus Garvey
Carter G. Woodson
Nikki Giovanni
Angela Davis
Toni Morrison
bell hooks
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva
Frantz Fanon
Randall Robinson
Martin Luther King Jr
Malcolm X
James Baldwin
Michael Eric Dyson
Cornell West
Lisa Jones
Charles Mills
Zora Neale Hurtson
Richard Wright
Assata Shakur

If you are unable to attend, the exhibit will be on display for two weeks in Ellis Library, Room 202.

MU Libraries celebrates the 75th anniversary of the syndication of the comic strip Alley Oop with a digital exhibition drawing from the libraries’ V.T. Hamlin and Comic Art Collections, which are permanently housed in Special Collections at Ellis Library. The exhibit explores the evolution of the strip, as well as its place in the history of the comic art medium and American culture. Personal photographs, correspondence, original artwork, daily and Sunday strips, books and various other ephemera are included.

This digital exhibit is inspired by the physical exhibition mounted in Ellis Library from September 10th through the 30th, 2008, and includes all of the items featured in the physical exhibit, plus some additional artifacts. Video of all of the events are available for viewing online as well, including the Keynote speech with Jack and Carole Bender, the current artists of Alley Oop; talks by local literary and art historians; a panel of young cartoonists from St. Louis and Chicago; and a talk by legendary underground cartoonist and MU Professor Emeritus of Art Frank Stack.

The online exhibit is available at http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/specialcollections/exhibits/alleyoop75th.htm.

2009 and 2010 Missouri Budget Outlook by James R. Moody and Associates

The MU Libraries are celebrating National Library Week by launching on Twitter and asking our users to send us their thoughts, ideas and suggestions for the Libraries. The MU Libraries are connecting with more users in more ways than ever. This year, 50% more patrons have walked through the doors of Ellis Library than visited last year. To accommodate these users, 35 new computers have been added to the Information Commons, two new group study rooms have been made available and additional seating has been added to the Bookmark Café. To keep up with what is happening at Ellis Library and the eight branch libraries, visit our Web site , join us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

“The Columbia Public Library is seeing similar increases,” says Melissa Carr, Library Director. “We have added computers and services to keep up with the influx as well.” We now have 25 new Internet-access computers, and we have added program sessions to help patrons applying for jobs online or who are working on resumés. Our virtual branch is busier than ever and features new information content to help patrons answer many commonly asked questions. You can now also subscribe to regular library news e-mails, receive our RSS feeds or follow us on Twitter.

Stafford Library at Columbia College celebrates National Library Week with patrons by providing free coffee in the library during the week. The library’s collection is highlighted with displays and informational items. “Columbia College students use the library not only to study but to prepare for class presentations and to meet with friends and classmates,” states Janet Caruthers, Library Director. “We are always striving to provide resources and an environment that are beneficial to our students’ needs.”

“Everyday, libraries in Columbia help to transform our community,” says Jim Cogswell, Director of MU Libraries. “At the MU Libraries, the Columbia Public Library, Stafford Library and other libraries in the area, people of all backgrounds come together (in person and online) to meet up with friends and study, to attend lectures and concerts or view an exhibit, to do research with the assistance of a trained professional, to get help finding a job or to find homework help. During National Library Week we want to remind the members of our community about the valuable resources they can find at their local libraries.”

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April.

Find out the latest news about the Libraries by following us on Twitter. Please share your comments and suggestions about the MU Libraries.

Construction of a state-of-the-art Cisco TelePresence room is currently underway on the first floor of Ellis Library near the Administrative Offices. This room is part of the University of Missouri System’s new high-definition Cisco TelePresence system that will be linked to AT&T’s global network. The new TelePresence system will foster greater teaching and research collaboration while reducing travel time, travel-related expenses and carbon emissions.

Gary Forsee, University of Missouri System president, and his wife, Sherry, are providing the lead gift of $1 million for the new four-campus TelePresence system. The university’s strategic advanced technology partners, Cisco and AT&T, are contributing to the equipment, installation, maintenance, design, technical assistance and networking of the new Cisco TelePresence rooms.

Construction is expected to be completed by June 30, 2009. For more information, visit http://www.umsystem.edu/ums/news/releases/news08102801.shtml or contact Shannon Cary at carysn@missouri.edu.

The Journalism Library now has one Kindle2 available. The Library has subscribed to the Los Angeles Times, the Houston Chronicle, the Boston Globe, the Financial Times and Technology Review, a high tech magazine from MIT.  The device can be checked out for three hours but cannot leave the building.

MERLIN has purchased the Mergent Web Reports.
Mergent Web Reports/Digitized Archive Manuals: provides electronic access to all Moody’s/Mergent manuals ever published dating back to 1909. (Municipal and Govt manual currently not available.) WebReports contain more than 180,000 documents covering over 100 countries and industries using an easy-to-navigate and reliable system.

The Law Library is providing campus access to the U.S. Code.
Complete coverage (1925-1926 Edition – 2006 Current Edition) of The United States Code. The U.S. Code is the official consolidation and codification of all general and permanent laws of the United States that are in force as of a certain date. Exact page-images of the original bound edition are provided. Access provided to the campus by the MU Law Library.