home Staff news In the News: State Historical Society Edition

In the News: State Historical Society Edition

“Photo Gallery: State Historical Society begins move to new facility”
Columbia Missourian, June 12, 2019

“Long-awaited Move-In Day Arrives For State Historical Society”
KBIA, June 12, 2019

“State Historical Society moves collection into new building”
KOMU, June 13, 2019

home Staff news Staff Changes in Facilities

Staff Changes in Facilities

The Facilities Team will begin a reorganization soon that will provide more flexibility to respond to handyman, moving and repair projects for all library facilities. The newly reorganized team will include one full-time lead delivery driver, one half-time maintenance services attendant, one half-time facilities attendant and a couple of student workers. The maintenance services attendant and facilities attendant will become year-round positions with shifts that cover as many work-day hours as possible. To make the transition more transparent, new part-time positions will be posted and the existing part-time appointments will end when the ideal team members have been identified. Many thanks to the entire Facilities Team (Sheila Voss, Duane Bittle, Larry Dietzel, Bonnie Johnson and Stephen Knowlton) for actively participating in the process of identifying what changes need to be made to become a stronger, more flexible team.

home Staff news Marketing Highlight

Marketing Highlight

Although our social media efforts slow down a little over the summer, @Mizzou.Libraries Instagram is still going strong. Thanks to everyone who continues to contribute content. Check out this recent popular post made by Ashley Granger.

We are still doing our “librarians on vacation” posts, so send us your vacation picks. We notice that a lot of librarians like to visit other libraries on vacation!

home Staff news New Muse Posts

New Muse Posts

The Benefits of Reading Fiction

Poisonous Books

Weekend Fun: The Missouri Symphony, Canines and Cruisers, Show-Me State Games

home Staff news Employment Opportunity: Coordinator of Donor Engagement

Employment Opportunity: Coordinator of Donor Engagement

Job Description

This position will manage donor engagement for the University Libraries, ensuring exceptional stewardship for our donors and providing coordination for events and volunteer efforts. In this capacity, the Coordinator of Donor Engagement (CDE) will work closely with members of the Friends of the Libraries Council (FOL) and Library Society. The CDE will serve as the Libraries’ liaison to Annual Giving, overseeing the Libraries’ participation in annual fund, Mizzou Give Direct and Mizzou Giving Day. The CDE will report to the University Libraries Director of Advancement, and will work closely with the University Libraries Communications Officer, assisting with social media, marketing materials and our print publication, Library Connections. The ideal candidate will have outstanding interpersonal and customer service skills, organizational skills with attention to detail, writing/editing/design experience, social media savvy and desire to put the best face forward for the University Libraries and MU.

Duties will include:

  • Coordinate the Library Society, the University Libraries donor recognition program. Plan and execute high quality events for donors and potential donors, including the annual Library Society Reception. Update database coding, welcome new members and contact strategically selected donors to ask for sponsorships and other forms of event support.
  • Serve as liaison for FOL. Work closely with FOL volunteers to plan, execute and seek sponsorship for fundraisers and other events. Serve as secretary to the organization, handle Council elections, develop meeting agendas, staff Friends committees, welcome new members, keep coding current in Advance and handle Friends renewal mailings.
  • Coordinate the Stuckey Essay program. Solicit, collect and prepare essays for judging by FOL volunteers. Contact winners, handle press releases and arrange awards.
  • Manage day-to-day donor stewardship. Draft thank you letters for the Vice Provost for University Libraries, verify proper allocation and use of gifts, and handle donor relations issues as necessary.
  • Write, design and edit donor engagement materials, including messages and correspondence on behalf of the Vice Provost for Libraries, impact reports and solicitation materials, as well as materials related to FOL.
  • Serve as liaison to and collaborate with MU Advancement donor relations team and annual fund team.
  • Lead Libraries’ participation in annual fund, Mizzou Give Direct and Mizzou Giving Day.
  • Identify and cultivate potential lead annual giving donors through research, personalized outreach and engagement. Collaborate with the Libraries’ advancement team and leadership to identify strategies and tactics to engage and solicit donors.
  • Manage award nominations for library donors, ensure proper recognition of donors on honor rolls and develop new ideas to improve donor recognition opportunities.
  • Serve on the Libraries’ social media team and assist the Libraries Communications Officer in developing two issues per year of Library Connections.
  • Maintain Advancement Office records.
  • Other related duties as assigned.

Salary

Salary Range: $16.92 – $22.00/hour

Grade: GGS-008
University Title: Advancement Coordinator

Shift

Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. with some evening/weekend hours.

Minimum Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree

Preferred Qualifications

  • Journalism, marketing, communication, advertising or public relations degree preferred.
  • At least one to three years of experience from which comparable knowledge and skills can be acquired is preferred.
  • Ability to use Office and Adobe Creative Suite, and ability to learn new technologies/systems, such as our alumni database.

Benefit Eligibility

This position is eligible for University benefits.  The University offers a comprehensive benefits package, including medical, dental and vision plans, retirement, paid time off, and educational fee discounts.  For additional information on University benefits, please visit the Faculty & Staff Benefits website at http://www.umsystem.edu/totalrewards/benefits

Diversity Commitment

The University of Missouri is fully committed to achieving the goal of a diverse and inclusive academic community of faculty, staff and students. We seek individuals who are committed to this goal and our core campus values of respect, responsibility, discovery and excellence.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Equal Opportunity is and shall be provided for all employees and applicants for employment on the basis of their demonstrated ability and competence without unlawful discrimination on the basis of their race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other status protected by applicable state or federal law. This policy shall not be interpreted in such a manner as to violate the legal rights of religious organizations or the recruiting rights of military organizations associated with the Armed Forces or the Department of Homeland Security of the United States of America. For more information, call the Vice Chancellor of Human Resource Services/Affirmative Action officer at 573-882-4256.

To request ADA accommodations, please call the Disability Inclusion and ADA Compliance Manager at 573-884-7278.

home Staff news MULSA Staff Picnic, June 14

MULSA Staff Picnic, June 14

The annual staff picnic hosted by MULSA is coming right up on Friday, June 14th from 5 to 8pm at Stephens Lake Park’s Gordon Shelter; join us for a pot-luck picnic with a tropical luau theme!

Please bring a side dish or a dessert to share. We will have island-style pulled pork and pulled chicken sliders, a selection of tropical beverages, music, and more.

Be sure to wear your flip flops and Hawaiian shirts!

 

home Staff news Staff Photos from the Celebration of Service

Staff Photos from the Celebration of Service

Congratulations to the Libraries staff who celebrated service anniversaries in 2019!

2019 University of Missouri Libraries Employees

home Staff news Diversity and Social Justice: A Starting Place Webinar

Diversity and Social Justice: A Starting Place Webinar

Diversity and Social Justice: A Starting Place Webinar
Wednesday, June 19th 11am-12pm, 4D11 (Ellis Library)

Unlike other online diversity trainings, this course introduces the concepts that you can utilize in your own life immediately. Regardless of each your identities and lived experiences, the concept of how we coexist, interact, and impact one another is imperative to build better teams, better connections, and deeper relationships.

Spend an hour, reflecting on how you fit into the conversation of diversity. Coming to terms with our own unique positive and negative bias as well as how that intersects with our responsibility of perception and sense of entitlement to validation is the foundation of social justice work. Our experiences, choices, and impact, both intentional and unintentional, matter. This is the starting place.

This webinar is a part of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Nine Conversations that Matter to Health Sciences Librarians with Jessica Pettitt series from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, which runs through 2020.

 

Taira Meadowcroft

Taira Meadowcroft is the Public Health and Community Engagement Librarian at the Health Sciences Library at the University of Missouri.

home Staff news Celebration of Service Comments

Celebration of Service Comments

Congratulations to everyone celebrating a service anniversary this year. The comments posted by supervisors about these employees are posted below.

5 Years

Corrie Hutchinson:
Corrie has become an invaluable member of the Libraries’ leadership team since she joined us as Acquisitions Librarian five years ago. She has managed cutting huge amounts of money from our collections budget and very significant changes in Technical Services. Corrie has proven herself a talented leader with great analysis skills, and is now a valued and essential part of the Libraries.
–Ann Campion Riley

Noel Kopriva:
Noel first came to the University Libraries to serve as the subject specialist for agriculture and other applied sciences. When the Engineering Librarian retired, Noel stepped up to handle that role as interim, and was later appointed into the role permanently. A team player, she agreed to keep a portion of her prior role supporting applied sciences. Noel is known for her commitment to instruction, and the many sessions she leads each year speak to that. In response to her advocacy work this year, she received the Librarian of the Year Award from ULSAC, for outstanding service to student library users. I appreciate Noel’s calm analysis of issues, and her ability to navigate in uncharted territory. Congratulations on your award, Noel! Thank you for your first five years of service to the University Libraries.
–Deb Ward

Erin Powell:
Erin has a great laugh. But besides that, she has been a wonderful team member who asks great procedural questions, takes on new tasks like government document checkin, stretches her experience by volunteering at the Research Desk, helps come up with ideas for Instagram, feeds our fish Harry 3.0, and all the while continues to process the daily receipt of print serials. Thank you.
–Corrie Hutchinson

10 Years

Sandy Schiefer:
Sandy has been a gift to journalism. When the last Columbia Missourian Librarian retired and budgets were tight, I never thought that we would be able to fill that position. My only hope was for a librarian who would be willing to transfer to the Columbia Missourian. I knew that Sandy was intelligent, independent and incredibly competent. She had tech skills, had worked with and knew all about government documents, public affairs and geography. Then, as if a miracle occurred, Sandy volunteered. When she decided to stay, we changed her title from Missourian Librarian to Journalism Research and Digital Access Librarian because we had big plans to expand the scope of the position. Sandy, not only is the information expert assisting reporters and editors with daily news and special projects, she teaches information gathering and evaluation skills. She manages contest entries, and the digital news archive staff. As the journalism school undergoes its curriculum redesign, she will play a huge role in the creation and management of the new digital multiplatform news archive. The journalism library staff, the Digital Curator of Journalism, the newsroom student reporters, faculty and staff are so grateful that she is now a part of our team. We can’t wait to see what she will be able to accomplish in the next 10 years.
–Dorothy Carner

15 Years

Michelle Baggett
Michelle has all the qualities you hope for in someone who works in libraries: a strong service mentality, great sense of humor and plenty of curiosity. She tempers justice with mercy in her dealings with our student workers and our patrons, and keeps us all on an even keel. Finally, and I can’t stress this enough, Michelle is nice. Not wishy-washy nice, but genuinely kind and sympathetic, patient and a great listener. We in the Engineering Library are fortunate to work with her.
–Noel Kopriva

Susan McCormack
Susan McCormack is a dedicated and skilled professional who has been working with consortial e-resource purchasing for the University of Missouri System campus libraries since late 2003, after nearly 10 years of full-time work at the Missouri State Historical Society. Her position here was originally with the Library Systems Office (LSO) at UM System until 2012, when LSO was merged into University Libraries. Susan has always been an asset in this role. She is dependable and meticulous when working with detailed budgets. She is quick and thorough with communications. Her enthusiasm for full documentation of procedure and policy is unsurpassed even within University Libraries. Susan resolves problems and issues by working with a range of contacts: librarians, accountants, and publishers/vendors. Even when the situation is difficult, Susan maintains a calm and helpful attitude. In her spare time, Susan has earned her reputation as a fantastic cook & baker. You can find her selling handmade goods at the Fulton Farmer’s Market on Saturday mornings in the summertime.
–Abbie Brown

Ernest Shaw
Ernest Shaw is cheerful, resourceful and hard-working. He has handled many difficult situations well, and is a wonderfully supportive member of the Library Management Team. His support of the changing technologies for libraries has enabled us to move forward with many projects over the years. Adjusting to all the IT structural changes has been stressful, but Ernest has kept things going for the Libraries throughout, and has grown as a supervisor and manager. Working with Ernest is always fun.
–Ann Campion Riley

20 Years

Rachel Brekhus
I’ve only known Rachel for a couple of years and have only worked with her in the Instructional Services department for the past year, but it’s been clear to me from the start that she is a skilled practitioner of reference and instructional services, a strong advocate for the students and faculty in the academic departments that she serves, and a librarian who is respected by her peers. To quote Anne Barker: “Rachel has a deep concern for the well-being of people in general and has made every effort in her service commitments to encourage and support University Libraries employees. She has a strong sense of community engagement, and her concern for and dedication to diversity, inclusion, and equality, both in scholarship and more generally, is especially admirable.” Congrats on 20 years, Rachel!
–Joe Askins

Yasuyo Knoll
Yasuyo worked at the Health Sciences Library for 18 years, as head of Photocopy Services, and was integrated into the Circulation Department. She was always willing to lend a hand to the Interlibrary Loan Department when their work-load exceeded their capacity. She opened the HSL on Sundays during that time, and was always reliable no matter what the weather brought her way. In December, 2017, Yasuyo moved to the Math Library, where she has exercised her user-centered vision to bring improvements to furnishings, equipment, and the use of space. I note when I visit the Math Library, that there are more users than before taking advantage of what the library has to offer. It’s clear that the faculty and students appreciate the Math Library services, and I especially appreciate her thoughtful approach to Math Library challenges. Thank you, Yasuyo, for twenty years of capable service to the University Libraries.
–Deb Ward

Caryn Scoville
We are so very lucky to have Caryn as a colleague. She provides a great sounding board for developing ideas, bringing a great combination of creativity and practicality to improve our library services. She is our data goddess, and is incredibly talented at using data to tell the library’s story. We all benefit from Caryn’s skills as a creative problem solver. She is generous in sharing her expertise, and diplomatic in her interactions with all library staff.
–Diane Johnson

25 Years

Michaelle Dorsey
The University Libraries have been lucky to have Michaelle as an employee for so many years. Her hard work, attention to detail, collegiality and devotion to serving our community is not something you can teach. From working with Special Collections to conserve rare materials, to serving on ESFAC helping with space projects, to leading the recovery of materials damaged by fire, to her daily oversight of protecting our print serials, she has made the collection, ACTS, and the Libraries better. Thank you.
–Corrie Hutchinson

Stephen stanton
Stephen will tell you that he has his dream job, and I will tell you that he is well-placed. His interest in science, the outdoors, maps of all kinds, and information make him a perfect fit for his position at the Geology Library. His knowledge of geology and information about it make him a magnet for the library users. The Geology faculty and students regard him and the Geology Library as a “huge asset to the research and teaching missions of the department.” In the words of the chair, Dr. Alan Whittington: “The library helps us to recruit students and faculty, and plays an integral role in the Department’s success.” I appreciate his sense of humor, as well as his obvious commitment to the Geology Library. Thank you, Stephen, for twenty-five great years with the University Libraries.
–Deb Ward

Rhonda Whithaus
Rhonda came to us as a G.A. She’s grown in every role she’s assumed, from part-time in journalism to full-time as the data archives librarian and then electronic resources librarian and now the Head of Research Services. “Service” is what matters to her, service to patrons, service to her supervisees and co-workers, and service to her community. She responds to problem reports at all hours as she believes it’s the library’s responsibility to make sure the patron can get the information they need when they need it. Rhonda listens to and solicits opinions of others to solve problems. If she rejects a solution, she can back it up with a good reason. Rhonda is patient, logical, careful and caring, persistent and straightforward, in every document she prepares and in every interaction with every person. She exemplifies that activity of maintaining, which is often overshadowed by innovating when spotlights are shone, but without which the world simply falls apart. Rhonda is a superb leader of the Research Services Department.
–Jeannette Pierce (text compiled from comments shared by colleagues)

30 Years

Laura Buck
At Zalk Library, Laura Buck manages circulation and reserves, takes care of the collection, hires and trains our student assistants, answers reference questions, and keeps the place running smoothly. Basically, we’d be lost without her. Over her career, Laura has seen an incredible amount of change in how libraries operate. But no matter the process or the technology, she has always been a positive force in the library, keeping the needs of the students, faculty, and staff foremost in her mind. Indeed, the major changes in the library over the past several years are due in no small part to Laura’s eagerness to create a more welcoming and usable space for the veterinary students. Thank you and CONGRATULATIONS, Laura!
–Kate Anderson

Marie Concannon
Marie is a very “outside of the box” thinker. When a new approach is needed to a problem, she is one of the people we can count on to come up with a different idea on how to do so. She uses that creativity on the state level (creating a geographically distributed regional depository collection) and national level such as when she served as the Depository Library Council Chair and now as one of the members of the steering committee for the Preservation of Electronic Government Information Project. She is ever in motion, identifying needs, marshalling forces on campus, within the state, or at the national level, to do what today can no longer be taken for granted: making sure that the information and the knowledge created in our government’s many departments and agencies does not perish, and also does not merely wait, storing their potential, on the proverbial “dusty shelf” so often invoked by those who disparage the waiting. Marie is respected among her peers for her energy, knowledge and commitment to providing access to government documents and information. Her knowledge, expertise and determination to find exactly what the patron is looking for translates into excellent customer service and satisfied students and faculty. Marie is a gem, and her hard work and dedication are an inspiration to us all.
–Jeannette Pierce (text compiled from comments shared by colleagues)

35 Years

Tammy Green
Thirty-five years of work experience make Tammy anything but “green!” Tammy’s job in Interlibrary Loan-Lending means her “patrons” are other libraries and institutions to whom we lend materials. Law firms, Missouri High schools, and the St. Louis Zoo are just a few of the entities Tammy has interacted with over the years. Tammy’s employment longevity now rivals another “Green” library employee – her mother, Carol Green—who retired after also working 35 years at Mizzou. This mother-daughter Green team has contributed a total of 70 years to MU, with most of that time in Ellis Library Access Services! The University Libraries have had a “Green” employee since the 1960s. Congratulations, Tammy!
–Cindy Cotner

home Staff news New Muse Posts

New Muse Posts

Summer Reading

Do you have a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone?

Annual Household Hazardous Waste Collection Event

Weekend fun: Rock the community, Art in the Park, Tiger Treasures