Your source for what's new at Mizzou Libraries
We will have special hours for the Thanksgiving break:
Have a safe break and a Happy Thanksgiving!
The MU Libraries have canceled the subscription to NTIS, effective December 31, 2014.
The commercial version of NTIS will be available through December 31, 2014, via the EbscoHost interface
The U.S. Department of Commerce offers public access to the National Technical Reports Library (NTRL). Access is free, but you must register to search and view full-text documents.
If you have any questions, please contact the Ellis Library Reference Desk or call 573-882-4581.
Due to low usage, the MU Libraries have canceled the subscription to the ATLA Catholic Periodical and Literature Index, effective December 31, 2014.
Until December 31, 2014, ATLA Catholic Periodical and Literature Index will still be available.
The MU Libraries provide access to numerous databases indexing resources relating to religious studies. Please review the Religious Studies Guide for additional resources and assistance.
If you have any questions, please contact the Ellis Library Reference Desk or call 573-882-4581.
Apps for Academics: The Best of the Best Applications for Researchers and Writers
Nov. 14 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
Room 213, Ellis Library
In this workshop, Jonathan Cisco will present new software (both PC and Mac platforms) that can help researchers write effectively and efficiently. Attendees will also be encouraged to discuss their own “tools of the trade” as they relate to their own writing processes.
Jonathan Cisco, Campus Writing Program Coordinator
Registration Preferred. http://tinyurl.com/MULibrariesworkshops
Videos from “Dodging the Memory Hole: Saving Born-digital News Content,” held at RJI on Nov. 10–11, 2014.
Read more at the Reynolds Journalism Institute blog: Videos from Dodging the Memory Hole: Saving Born-digital News Content
The Loch Ness Monster (or Nessie for short) is one of the most elusive cryptids in modern folklore. In fact, the Loch Ness monster is so elusive, we have only one confirmed sighting on our shelves here in Special Collections. It comes in the form of The Loch Ness Monster Watchers, a 1974 essay by Victor Perera about an expedition he and a collegue took to Loch Ness in Scotland to try to spot Nessie for themselves.
Many theories about the Loch Ness Monster exist in modern legends. One of the most common theories surrounding the Loch Ness Monster is that Nessie is some form of plesiosaur, whose line has somehow survived into modern times within the loch. This image from Robert McCann's short comic "Ocean Blues", featured in Disappointing Circus, shows such a creature. You can certainly see the family resemblance.
Whether or not you believe in Nessie or think it's all just a hoax, the legend continues to be a huge draw for cryptozoologists, adventurers, and the simply curious, all hoping to catch a glimpse of the mysterious creature. If you can't afford the trip to Scotland to seek out Nessie for yourself, come see us at Special Collections, where you can read all about one such a trip and decide for yourself – is the Loch Ness Monster real or just wishful thinking?
December 31, 2014, will mark the five hundredth birthday of Andreas Vesalius, one of the most important anatomists in the history of medicine. The MU Libraries will commemorate this historic occasion with an exhibition entitled Vesalius at 500: Student, Scholar, and Surgeon, on view November 5-30 in the Ellis Library Colonnade.
Andreas Vesalius is frequently called the father of modern human anatomy. Born in 1514 in modern-day Belgium, he studied at the Universities of Louvain, Paris, and Padua before becoming a professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Padua. His primary contribution to the history of medicine was his emphasis on dissection and firsthand observation. Vesalius differed from his colleagues because he used his observations to challenge ancient and often inaccurate Greek and Roman medical writings, which formed the basis of all medical knowledge for over a thousand years.
Vesalius at 500 showcases materials from the Libraries’ collections that helped to shape Vesalius’ career, including medieval manuscripts and early printed books on medicine. The centerpiece of the exhibition is Vesalius’ most famous work, De Humani Corporis Fabrica. The Libraries hold two copies of this important book, a second edition printed in 1555, and a later edition from 1568. Recognizing MU’s strength in human and animal medical research, the exhibition considers Vesalius’ effect on the history of veterinary medicine with several early illustrated works on animal anatomy. Works of Renaissance science are also included in order to situate Vesalius within the world of sixteenth-century scientific thought.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Dr. Gheorghe M. Constantinescu, a professor of veterinary anatomy in the College of Veterinary Medicine at MU, will present “Andreas Vesalius: On the 500th Anniversary of His Birth” on November 12 at 12:00 pm. Dr. Constantinescu is a medical illustrator and author investigating the gross anatomy of domestic and laboratory animals. His presentation will be held in room 4f51a in Ellis Library.
Vesalius at 500: Student, Scholar, and Surgeon is curated by a team of rare book librarians from the J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library, the Zalk Veterinary Medical Library, and Ellis Library’s Special Collections and Rare Books department. The exhibition draws on MU Libraries’ special collections of more than 100,000 original artworks, manuscripts, rare books, and historic documents. The collections, exhibition, and lecture are all free and open to the public.
NIH Public Access Policy
Nov. 7 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.
W-235, Veterinary Medicine Building
This session will provide an overview on complying with the NIH Public Access Policy. Learn how to find and use PMCIDs; submit articles to PubMed Central; and view and manage policy compliance with MyNCBI’s My Bibliography. Topics will also include a brief overview of Open Access journals and how they relate to funding agency policies.
Kate Anderson, Head, Zalk Veterinary Medical Library
Registration Preferred. http://tinyurl.com/MULibrariesworkshops
Have NIH funding? Applying for an NIH grant? Puzzled by the NIH requirements to make your articles open access within a 12 months of publication?
Plan to attend this seminar in room W235 in the Veterinary Medicine Building :
NIH Public Access Policy (or…Zen & the Art of Public Access)
This session will provide an overview on complying with the NIH Public Access Policy. Learn how to find and use PMCIDs; submit articles to PubMed Central; and view and manage policy compliance with MyNCBI’s My Bibliography. Topics will also include a brief overview of Open Access journals and how they relate to funding agency policies.
Instructor: Kate Anderson, Head, Veterinary Medical Library
Date & Time: Friday, November 7th, 1 – 2 pm
Location: W235 Vet Med Bldg
Registration Preferred: http://tinyurl.com/MULibrariesworkshops
To finish out October, here's an extra special Halloween edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them in Special Collections. Today's featured beast is the demon, which is usually defined as an evil spirit or fiend. Nearly every religion has a form of demons that populate whatever version of Hell that particular religion believes in, often trying to influence the people of our world into committing evil acts and causing general chaos. Mephistopheles (pictured above) is one of the more well-known demons and is the one that Faust sells his soul to in the legend of Faustus, recorded most famously by Goethe.
In other classic literature, this edition of Dante's Inferno illustrated by Gustave Dore beautifully shows some of the residents of Hell that Dante and Virgil encounter on their journey through the nine circles of Hell.
This image depicts a scene from the Russian folk tale The Soldier's Midnight Watch, in which a soldier hides on top of the stove while an undead witch summons a crowd of small demons to search him out.
In more modern media, demons have taken on other roles as well, such as in the comic Fray by Joss Whedon, in which the demon Urkonn plays trainer to a futuristic vampire slayer named Melaka Fray.
A more light-hearted take on a demon occurs in The Demon of the Eiffel Tower, an English translation of a French comic in which Adele Blanc-Sec solves mysteries and has grand adventures in a fantasy version of the 1900s. (Spoiler Alert: in true Scooby-Doo style, the demon is eventually revealed to be a woman with a nefarious plot in a costume.)
Switching from comics to poetry, the above image is from Arthur Rimbaud's collection of poems entitled A Season in Hell. With several photographs like this by Robert Mapplethorpe, this edition of Rimbaud's poetry certainly takes an added turn for the creepy.
Speaking of creepy, these terrifying creatures are from Leonard Baskin's work Demons, Imps, and Fiends. The rest of the book is filled with drawings of demons you definitely wouldn't want to meet on the street at night, much less enter into any form of agreement with.
Happy Halloween everyone! If you need help getting into the spirit of the holiday, come see us in Special Collections. Our stacks are haunted by books with all kinds of creatures guaranteed to help.