The University Libraries Undergraduate Research Contest seeks to recognize and reward outstanding research conducted by undergraduate students at the University of Missouri.

This year the winners of the first place prize of a $500 scholarship are Rosie Johnson and Cailey Southard. Their project was “Explorative Materials & Sustainable Fashion in the Fashion Industry.”

The second-place winner and recipient of a $250 scholarship is Nina Schmolzi. Her project was “A Symphony of Suffering: Exploring Masochistic Love in Lady Mary Wroth’s ‘Urania.'”

Both of these papers will be archived in MOspace, MU’s digital repository. You can see their projects, as well as past winners’ projects, here.

Special thanks to the Friends of the University of Missouri Libraries for their support of this award.

Marie Concannon, head of government information and data archive at the MU Libraries, is the recipient of the 2024 James Bennett Childs Award. This honor, which is awarded by the Government Documents Round Table of the American Library Association, is a tribute to an individual who has made a lifetime and significant contribution to the field of documents librarianship.

From the award letter: “The Awards Committee noted that the support letters for your nomination focused on your dedication to the profession and your lifetime of service. Your role in Government Documents practice has been exemplary. Your work with Prices and Wages by Decade has been beneficial not only to the government information community, but to the wider community as well. It is a privilege to honor you with this award for your years of dedication and service to Government Information.”

Assisted by the MU Libraries, humanities researcher Carsten Strathausen is constructing a comprehensive visual database encompassing all adaptations of Franz Kafka’s “The Trial.” This resource aims to serve scholars and students for years to come.

Research Librarian Anne Barker consulted with Carsten on the project by identifying and acquiring materials, suggesting strategies for gathering data, and pointing him to other library staff who could assist. Seth Huber, head of cataloging acquisitions and collection development,
searched for and downloaded the catalog records of versions and translations of “The Trial.”
In addition, Steven Pryor, director of digital initiatives, developed a Python web-crawler to gather metadata on these resources and played a key role in organizing the dataset. He also helped to created an Excel sheet containing vital information to track advancements, which will be useful to continue these research endeavors.

The Interlibrary Loan team played a crucial role in acquiring numerous adaptations of “The Trial” from around the globe, including artworks, films, graphic novels and more. Ivy Hui, head of the ILL Borrowing/Requesting Unit, and her dedicated team maintained regular communication with Dr. Strathausen, updating him on their progress in locating these elusive adaptations of Kafka’s text.

Dr. Stathausen is continuing his work with a grant from the MU Center for the Humanities and is organizing an international symposium on “Digital Kafka” that will take place this fall at Georgetown University.

For more information on this project and an interview with Dr. Strathausen, visit Research, Innovation and Impact.

The MU Libraries are pleased to announce that Jara Anderson has been hired as the research and instruction librarian for agriculture, natural resources and Extension. Jara has a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Missouri and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Columbia College. She taught in Prague, Czech Republic, for three years before returning to Missouri for graduate school. She has been with MU Libraries since 2021, including as a graduate assistant in Digital Initiatives, library information assistant at the Health Sciences Library, and most recently as the senior library information specialist at the Veterinary Medical Library. Jara also has nearly eight years of experience as a freelance copywriter and grant writer, and she has helped numerous agricultural businesses across rural Missouri gain funding to expand their operations.

The MU Libraries are pleased to announce that Katie Rahman has been hired as the systems librarian. Katie has a Master of Library and Information Science from San Jose State University and a Master of Arts in East Asian Studies from the University of Minnesota. She has previously worked as a systems librarian and a systems manager at Wyoming State Library. As systems manager, she oversaw the integrated library system, and integrated third-party products and the online catalog.

The MU Libraries are pleased to announce that Nicole Merzweiler has been hired as the continuing resources cataloger librarian. Nicole has a Master of Library and Information Science from Kent State University. She has previously worked as the cataloging librarian at Northeast Ohio Medical University. Nicole’s professional interests include inclusive cataloging and user experience.

The MU Libraries are pleased to announce that Jill Kline has been hired as a student success librarian. Jill has a Master of Library and Information Science from MU and a Bachelor of Secondary Education from Union College. Jill has been working in libraries since 2013 starting as a student worker. After graduating from Union College, she worked as an English, art and yearbook teacher in Centralia, MO, then worked as a public services and outreach librarian at Union College for two years. She has also worked as part of a TRiO Student Support Services program at Doane University.