2013 Tax Information is now available at https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/tax. The deadline for filing is April 15, 2014.
Resources and Services
You asked, we listened: Email “book due” reminders
In the latest library survey, people asked if they could get email reminders before their books came due. We’re pleased to report that courtesy reminders are now up and running.
Three days before your book is due, you’ll get an email courtesy reminder, with a link to login and renew it. Books can be renewed online two times as long as nobody else needs it.
Thank you for this suggestion!
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chinese Newspapers Trial: Available until Feb. 6:
ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Chinese Newspapers Collection (1832-1953) – Trial
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http://proxy.mul.missouri.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trials/trialSummary.action?view=subject&trialBean.token=720DQ1V8QIGDM98CYJO7 Searchable collection of 12 English-language Chinese newspapers from 1832-1953. Includes article content, editorials, cartoons, advertisements and classified ads. Titles include North China Herald (1850-1941), Canton Times (1919-1920), China Critic (1939-1945), The China Press (1925-1938), China Weekly Review (1917-1953), Chinese Recorder (1868-1940), Chinese Repository (1832-1851), Peking Daily News (1914-1917), Peking Gazette (1915-1917), Peking Leader (1918-1919), Shanghai Gazette (1919-1921) and Shanghai Times (1914-1921). Trial ends Feb. 6, 2014.
Veterinary Toxicology Research Guide
Looking for veterinary toxicology resources? Check out our new guide: https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/vettox
Winter meditations
Here in Columbia, we were greeted by temps of -10 (with wind chills of -25) during our morning commute. A meditation on winter somehow seems appropriate today.
John Shower (1657-1715) was a Presbyterian minister who published several works during his lifetime, mostly funeral sermons. His Winter Meditations was first published in 1695, and was fairly popular – this is the third edition. In this sermon, Shower sets out to illustrate the ways his parishioners could see winter as a blessing.
For instance, "In some Countreys, as in Lapland, not only doth the Snow abide all the Year on the Mountains, but durign the whole Winter the Earth is cover'd with Snow. And considering that for some Months of Winter, the Sun riseth not above their Horizon, or not much above it, this is rather an Advantage than an Inconvenience. For by the Light of the Snow they are enabl'd to work by Day, and to travel safely by Night."
"The good Effect of the Winter's Frost and Snow is perceiv'd very often the following Summer… As when a Gardner is seen to pull up some delightful Flowers by the Roots, to dig up the Earth, and cover it with Dung, some ignorant Person may be ready to charge him with spoiling the Garden; but when Spring is arriv'd, there will be sufficient Ground to acknowledge his Wisdom in what he did."
And it could be a lot worse.
Our temperature should climb into the 20s tomorrow. Perhaps winter really isn't so bad. As Garrison Keillor put it, more than 300 years after Shower, "Winter is what we were meant for and we welcome it. We thrive on adversity and that’s just the truth. The snow shovel is the secret of happiness."
Finding and Using Images, Maps and Video Research Guide
The new Finding and Using Images, Maps and Video research guide can assist you in locating rights-free images, maps and video. It can provide guidance on copyright, fair use and how to properly cite images, maps and videos. The guide can be found at: https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/findingimages.
New! Media Equipment Check-Out Agreement Form.
Beginning January 1, 2014, the journalism library will ask all students wishing to check out media equipment to read and sign a form indicating that they understand their responsibility for returning equipment on time and in good working condition. Forms can be found at the journalism library public services desk or online at: http://library.missouri.edu/journalism/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2014/01/Journalism-Library-Equipment-Agreement-form-ALL.pdf
Some new thoughts for the new year
Here are some New Thoughts for your New Year, courtesy of our extensive collections of seventeenth- through nineteenth-century British pamphlets. This one was printed in 1796.
The Cheap Repository Tracts series was created by the British poet, playwright, and philanthropist Hannah More, whose writings often dealt with religious themes. They were printed in large quantities for distribution to the poor. Although there must have been thousands of original copies, they were ephemera – not meant to be preserved. Only six copies of this tract are recorded in libraries around the world.
Many of the tracts deal with people in trades or in domestic service. This one shows "How Mr. Thrifty the great Mercer succeeded in his Trade, by always examining his Books soon after Christmas, and how Mr. Careless, by neglecting this rule, let all his affairs run to ruin before he was aware of it." The pamphlet ends with a hymn for the new year.
Verba Sacra: The Holy Bible from Medieval Manuscript to Modern Print
Currently on display in Ellis Library is the exhibition “Verba Sacra: The Holy Bible from Medieval Manuscript to Modern Print.” Among manuscripts and rare books, the visitor can see some of the rarities that have never being put on display before, such as the Book of Ruth, the Hebrew manuscript on aged parchment presumably written in the 13-14th century, or a very rare Church Slavonic Menaion (a liturgical book used in the Eastern Orthodox Church) for the month of June. There is also a magnificent, exquisitely illustrated edition of the Bible – the Pennyroyal Caxton, and, by way of sharp contrast, a green, pocket size, ubiquitous New Testament distributed by the Gideon's Society.
From the humblest fragment to the sumptuous editions of the Bible commissioned by ancient kings or modern businessmen, they all, although timeless, can tell of their time and age. They reveal or conceal stories of those who crafted them, of those who admired them, of those whose family history is still recorded on their end leaves. As one rediscovers them today, one partakes, in a sense, of these books’ history.
Libraries Partner on Digital Archive to Capture Struggle Against Apartheid
Dec. 06, 2013
Story Contact(s):
Christian Basi, BasiC@missouri.edu, 573-882-4430
Steven Adams, AdamsST@missouri.edu, (573) 882-5067
COLUMBIA, Mo. – With the passing of Nelson Mandela this week, preserving and documenting the many facets of his life will be crucial as future generations learn about his impact and carry his legacy into the future.
In the spirit of sharing Mandela’s achievements with future generations, the University of Missouri College of Education has signed an agreement with the University of the Western Cape (UWC) in Capetown and Robben Island Museum, South Africa, to begin a joint project preserving the thousands of historical papers, photos and other items related to the political prisoners who were held at Robben Island.
“This is a rich collection of materials that chronicles the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, the development of the new constitution in 1996, the birth of the new nation, and a country that affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom,” said Thomas Kochtanek, associate professor in the School of Information Science & Learning Technologies.
Robben Island is where many political prisoners, including Mandela, were incarcerated for opposing Apartheid and the regime that held power within South Africa from the 1960s to the early 1990s.
The project is an effort to make the Robben Island resources more widely available to scholars, students and the public around the world. Scholars, archivists and researchers from the MU College of Education’s School of Information Science & Learning Technologies and the University of Missouri Libraries, in conjunction with archivists from the Robben Island Museum, will digitize selected materials and make those available via a dynamic web site dedicated to the project.
“While the loss of Mandela has saddened everyone, Mandela’s legacy of reconciliation and forgiveness, towards the vision of the ‘rainbow’ nation, will live on in this way,” said Daniel L. Clay, dean of the MU College of Education. “The University of Missouri is very proud to continue our working relationship with the University of the Western Cape, which began 27 years ago, when the formal agreement was the first ever between a U.S. university and a non-white South African University.”
“The University of Missouri mourns the loss of Nelson Mandela, a man whose sacrifice and dedication to freedom inspired a spirit and strength that should never be forgotten,” Kochtanek said.