Thank you to everyone who participated in answering a series of pop-up questions on the Libraries Web site. The questions were designed to gather quick feedback on user preferences. The information gathered will inform decisions the Libraries make regarding allocating resources and setting priorities for Ellis Library and the branch libraries.  Several participants were randomly chosen to receive a $15 gift certificate to the University Bookstore.

Steve Weinberg, University of Missouri professor and former executive director of Investigative Reporters and Editors, has worked in newsrooms and written books. He knows a good journalism novel-which he defines as “those with journalists as protagonists”-when he reads one. He began collecting these novels in 1983, just for fun at first, and now the growing collection consists of over 3,200 books. These volumes, previously housed in Ellis Library’s Special Collections, have recently been deposited in the brand-new MU Journalism Library for use by faculty, students and the public. The Journalism Library occupies two levels of the new Reynolds Journalism Institute.

In a February Editor and Publisher article, Weinberg discussed the tendency of journalism novels to romanticize and misrepresent the profession. This makes his collection of good, credible novels a valuable resource. Journalism professors have a reliable collection of options for assigned readings. Students can gain insight into their future profession through these stories. Anyone who is interested can catch a glimpse of what it’s like to work in the field of journalism.

In gratitude for Weinberg’s generosity in sharing his collection, the Journalism Library will host a reception at 2 pm Wednesday, November 12, in the library. MU faculty and staff are invited to attend. His entertaining article discussing his collection in Editor and Publisher can be found at
this link.

“Darwin, Discovery, Death and Damnation: Sources of Victorian Religious Doubt”

Dr. Julie Melnyk Thursday, November 6 1-2 p.m. Ellis Library Colonnade Victorian Britain experienced a profound unsettlement of religious faith. In this lecture based on the final chapter of her new book, Victorian Religion: Faith and Life in Britain, Julie Melnyk examines the many sources of religious doubt in the period. While the problem of innocent suffering had long haunted thoughtful Christians, new challenges to Christian belief arose in the nineteenth century, including scientific advances in geology, the development of Darwin’s theory of evolution, new ways of reading the Bible, the increasing knowledge about world religions and discomfort with some central religious doctrines, including eternal damnation. Dr. Melnyk will also discuss the differing – and sometimes surprising – effects that religious unsettlement had in the lives of women and men of the period, as well as the general effect on British religion and society.