Written by Ashlynn Perez

In 2016, Cassie Boness, a graduate student in the Department of Psychological Sciences, set out to research and analyze the numerous causes of alcohol use disorder. The project was enormous, eventually amounting to nearly five years worth of work. With the long road to publication ahead of her, Boness contacted MU Libraries for help.

“They put me in contact with Kimberly who was so wonderful and patient in our massive undertaking,” Boness said. “I really felt more confident in the work knowing we had her expertise on board.”

Moeller, an instructional service and social science librarian and co-author of the review, first connected with Boness in 2016 when she was contemplating the project. What started as a few brainstorming emails quickly became monthly meetings and continual communication between the two when in September 2017, Boness secured grant funding and the road toward publication began.

Boness and Moeller’s review, entitled, “The Etiologic, Theory-Based, Ontogenetic Hierarchical Framework of Alcohol Use Disorder: A Translational Systematic Review of Reviews,” was written to look into the many causes of alcohol use disorder by summarizing and interpreting data from more specific reviews to make a broader conclusion about the field.

“It was a multi-step process,” Moeller said. “There’s already a lot of reviews out there, and we don’t need to recreate the wheel. So, we decided to review the reviews that exist.”

After the grueling, two-month process of narrowing down sources to reference in the review – an endeavor led by Moeller – came the coding of research and the extrapolation of data. While the initial research and writing of the review were time-consuming, the process of journal submission, receiving feedback, and making changes for resubmission took about half the time spent working on this project.

“Cassie, by and large, did the heavy lifting on this,” Moeller said. “She wrote at least 90% of the paper – likely even more than that – while I worked on the searches, the flowchart, and the methodology section. There was a lot of ‘in-between’ work that occurred as well, with searches added at different points to include other aspects or terminology that reviewers suggested.”

The review, pre-published in July 2021 and officially published in October 2021, has since been picked up by news organizations and created a buzz on Twitter. Boness is now a research assistant professor at the University of New Mexico.

For MU graduate students, staff and those interested in undertaking a systematic review like Boness’, Moeller recommends attending “Demystifying the Literature Review,” a workshop led by her and Christy Goldsmith from the Campus Writing Program. This workshop is offered both in-person and online, with a recording available on the MU Libraries YouTube channel for easy access, and explains both the research and writing process of compiling literature reviews. In addition, Moeller encourages researchers to talk to an MU Librarian.

“We [librarians] run these searches a lot,” Moeller said. “We’re very familiar and comfortable with which tools you might want to use, and can give suggestions to get you started. The librarian you work with can help you set up the search, run the initial search, export all of the results, and then you’re already a step ahead of the game.”

The MU Libraries are pleased to announce that Steven Pryor has been appointed head of Digital Scholarship. This new position will lead the newly created unit within the Research, Access and Instructional Services division. This unit will provide critical support and leadership for digital and open scholarship initiatives that advance the MU’s commitment to research excellence.

The Digital Scholarship Unit will provide leadership for developing and maintaining repository and publishing infrastructure to preserve, curate and host content created by MU scholars or owned by the MU Libraries and will be available to consult with librarians and scholars on the implementation and use of digital scholarly tools, methods and applications. In addition, the unit will work with library colleagues to advance open scholarship through advocacy and education in the areas of open access, open educational resources, research metrics and data management.

The formation of this new unit reflects our belief that digital scholarship, digital curation and preservation, and open scholarship are part of the critical infrastructure necessary to support scholarly research at a large research university.

Steven Pryor previously served at MU as digital scholarship librarian since 2018 and as the interim head of Digital Services since April 2021. Steven has a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Southern Illinois University. Steven previously served as head of information and technology services (ITS) operations for the University of Washington Libraries. Before that he served as the ITS special projects librarian. Other previous positions include director of digital initiatives and technologies at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville and technology manager for Saint Louis University Libraries.

The MU Libraries are pleased to announce that Rae Thudium has been appointed as the head of the Veterinary Medical Library. Originally from Springfield, Missouri, Rae earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Columbia College and a Master of Library and Information Science at the University of Missouri. She has served as the interim head librarian since the departure of Kate Anderson in July, 2021. Previously, she was a library associate at the Daniel Boone Regional Library and the interim executive assistant at the MU College of Veterinary Medicine. Her goals for the veterinary library include ensuring the library is a safe, quiet place for all, and updating the print collection to include additional eBook options.

The MU Libraries are pleased to announce that Vera Elwood has been hired as the head of the Journalism Library. Vera comes to Mizzou from Central Methodist University, where she was the instructional services librarian for three years. Prior to that, Vera served as young adult librarian and, later, outreach librarian at the Hays Public Library for three years. Vera may have gotten her Master of Library Science degree from Emporia State University in Kansas, but she became a third generation Mizzou legacy when she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in communication from the University of Missouri.

The University of Missouri Libraries was awarded a prestigious $500,000 Infrastructure and Capacity Building Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). This funding will be used to renovate the West Stacks in Ellis Library to provide climate-controlled storage for Special Collections and Archives. Construction is anticipated to begin in 2024.

“This renovation will benefit students and researchers by ensuring our distinctive collections are housed in appropriate conditions for long-term preservation,” says Deborah Ward, Interim Vice Provost for Libraries. “We are grateful to the NEH for their support of this project.”

Built in 1936, the West Stacks consists of eight levels of structural stacks that connect the Ellis west addition to the original stacks built in 1915. The renovation will enable all eight levels to house rare and archival collections, which are currently scattered throughout Ellis Library in wings built in 1915, 1936 and 1958 or off-site in a high-density storage facility.

Special Collections and Archives is home to a diverse selection of rare, unique and historic materials across distinct formats: manuscripts, papers, rare books, maps, posters, comic art, architectural plans, photographs and film. Significant collections include the papers of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson, the Gary E. and Janet J. Venable Antiquarian Atlas and Map Collection, medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, and the University Archives, including many other collections.

“These materials are valuable assets for secondary and university teaching, and they attract scholars from other universities,” stated MU Provost Latha Ramchand. “In addition, the University Libraries actively participates in digitization projects that allow the collections to be used internationally through such efforts as the Hathi Trust.”

The grant provides a 3:1 ratio matching challenge, which the Libraries will meet by raising 1.5 million dollars in donor funding. For more information and to donate to the project, contact Matt Gaunt, Director of Advancement, at gauntm@missouri.edu.

National Endowment for the Humanities: Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at neh.gov.

“If a child picked up coal at a Kansas City train yard in 1889, how much money might he get for one bucket”?

This intriguing question was recently submitted to the MU Libraries by Mary Hadreas of Astoria, Oregon. Only after answering the question did we find out why she was asking.

Marie Concannon, Head of Government Information, knew where to find the price of coal in Kansas in 1889. Unfortunately it was expressed in price per ton. She shared the question with Cade McKnelly, a student assistant in the Government Information office. Cade is an Economics major and is great with mathematical questions. He found the volume of a ton of coal and performed the calculations, arriving at an answer: the child might receive one cent for each bucket of coal gathered.

When we sent this result back to Ms. Hadreas, she amazed us by saying that our response confirmed a family legend. According to the stories passed down through an elderly aunt, Shad Houston Whittaker (1880-1964) had left home to make his way in the world at age nine. The statement from his parents was “You are a big boy and it is time to take care of yourself,” and he did. He found his way to Kansas City by following the railroad track. Once there, he earned some money by gathering coal for a penny per bucket. Ms. Hadreas wanted to fact-check this remarkable story before committing it to her family history book. She found us through the “Prices and Wages by Decade” guide on the MU Libraries website.

As for Shad, despite starting out with so little, his was a story of resilience. From gathering coal, he worked his way up in a succession of railroad jobs, ultimately became an engineer!

We want to thank Ms. Hadreas for allowing us to share this inspiring story.

Cycle of Success is the idea that libraries, faculty, and students are linked; for one to truly succeed, we must all succeed. The path to success is formed by the connections between University of Missouri Libraries and faculty members, between faculty members and students, and between students and the libraries that serve them. More than just success, this is also a connection of mutual respect, support, and commitment to forward-thinking research.

If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.

Image of coal wagon: Historic Kansas City Foundation Collection (SC224)

Marie Concannon, head of government information and data archives for MU Libraries, was chosen for two awards by the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA).

Concannon was selected as the 2022 recipient of the RUSA History Section’s Genealogy/History Achievement Award, sponsored by ProQuest for her creation, research and management of the Prices and Wages by Decade library guide as well as her service to the library community and ALA. The award consists of a citation and a monetary award to a librarian, library or publisher, in recognition of professional achievement in historical or genealogical reference, service, or research librarianship.

In addition, she received the RUSA Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Services Award for outstanding achievement in creating the Prices and Wages by Decade library guide, and for supporting a more informed citizenry by making economic history more easily accessible to all.

The Prices and Wages guide, which helps researchers locate primary sources showing historic retail prices and average wages, links mainly to government reports, but also includes catalogs and newspapers when relevant. The research guide has found fans across campus, the state, and the world since Marie Concannon, Head of Government Information, created it in 2012.

Esteemed research scientist Jay Zagorsky, who collects data for the National Longitudinal Surveys of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is one of the latest scholars to use the detailed lists of resources for prices and wages throughout the history of the U.S. Zagorsky investigated how prices at high end restaurants have changed since 1899 using menus found via the guide.

Jeannette Pierce, associate university librarian for research, access, and instructional services, stated, “We are very excited to see that Marie’s hard work on this guide is being recognized. Marie’s expertise in the area of government information combined with her commitment to providing excellent service to library users makes her the perfect person to receive these awards.”