Whether you want research help in person while social distancing or remotely from the safety and comfort of your home, the Mizzou Libraries will stay connected with you!

Many library services — including consultations and assistance, library instruction, reserves and events — will continue remotely online through the summer with some in-person options. The emphasis on remote library services will allow faculty and students to continue their work, regardless of location.

Among the changes that library users will continue to find this semester:

• Everyone in library buildings will need to wear a face mask and maintain 6 feet of physical distancing. Library users may only remove their mask while eating at the Bookmark Cafe on the ground floor. (This University policy does not make an exception for individuals who have received the vaccine.)
• An MU ID will be required to access the building after 5 pm.
• For a complete listing of intersession and summer session hours, visit library.missouri.edu/hours.
• The Check-Out & Information Desk on the north side of the first floor will serve as a single service desk for assistance in the library. Visit Ask the Librarians! for online help or to schedule a consultation.
• Furniture and computer workstations will be spread out in order to ensure physical distancing. The library’s Safety Team will monitor the building to make sure all library users are being safe. Library patrons are asked not to move furniture.
• Study rooms will be single occupancy only. Library patrons must use masks in study rooms and keep doors open for proper ventilation. You can reserve a study room through the online reservation system. We encourage study groups to meet on Zoom or other online platforms. If you need a space to do in-person group work, you many use rooms 114 and 114A. The furniture is set up for groups to work while maintaining proper distances.
• The ground floor and 1st floors of Ellis Library have been designated as “quiet conversation allowed” for library users, including students who need to attend their online classes in the library. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors are designated as quiet study space.
• The west stacks are closed. To request books or other items, please place an online request and the library will retrieve them for you.
• Library materials may be quarantined when they are returned, and the items may stay on your library account during that time. No fines will be assessed for items that are in quarantine.
• Food and drink will only be allowed on the ground floor of the library. Masks must be worn on the ground floor unless the user is actively eating or drinking.
• DigiPrint services has moved out of Ellis Library and is now located in MU Student Center Room 1212A

Library personnel will carefully assess how the new service models are working and will determine whether services can be gradually scaled up or, conversely, whether conditions will require a return to delivering more services remotely. For the latest information on library services and hours, visit library.missouri.edu. You may also subscribe to one of our weekly email newsletters to stay up to date.

Additional Information Regarding Specialized Libraries
Zalk Veterinary Medical Library

J. Otto Lottes Health Sciences Library

Engineering Library and Technology Commons

Journalism Library

Starting November 1, 2020 MU researchers will have access to SciFinder-n.  SciFinder-n is a new generation of SciFinder with better functionality via mobile devices.  It includes several new tools– PatentPak, MethodsNow Synthesis and Retrosynthesis Plan. Go to the CAS website to see additional information about SciFinder-n.

Your current SciFinder ID and password will also work for SciFinder-n, however, you will need to use a different URL to access this new version. The URL for accessing SciFinder-n will be provided closer to November 1st. You can continue to use Scifinder for a while, but CAS does plan to discontinue the old platform in 2021.

CAS is offering several introductory sessions for SciFinder-n this month. See below for details. Additional training webinars will be offered in November. CAS also provides on demand Scifinder-n training resources.

SciFinder-n Introductory Training Webinars:

Get started with SciFinder-n by signing up for one of these upcoming introductory training webinars.
Learn how to use SciFinder-n for:

• Reference searching
• Structure searching
• Reaction searching
• Computer-aided retrosynthetic design

Monday, October 19th, 1:00 pm CST  or Thursday, October 22nd, 1:00 pm CST

Register for one of these workshops

Please contact Janice Dysart, Chemistry Librarian, if you have any questions about SciFinder-n.

Some of the donors to the Mizzou Libraries prefer to remain anonymous. We know alumni and friends are interested in the stories behind the gifts; so we are sharing this story while respecting the donor’s wishes.

Beginning in the spring of 2018, thanks to an introduction from our friend and conservator James Downey at Legacy Book Bindery, we met a gentleman with a unique collection of rare books and manuscripts. For two and a half years our special collections librarians have been working with this extremely rare collection of medieval materials – digitizing, cataloging and sharing it with faculty and students. In the past year, our anonymous donor has given the Libraries $60,000 worth of early-printed books and two separate gifts of $100,000. The first gift established an endowment for the study of the book, and the second gift will help us improve our special collections storage spaces. This relationship is among the most important and exciting the Libraries have known. It wouldn’t feel like a celebration of our successful campaign without an anonymous shoutout. In the years to come there will undoubtedly be more written about this collection and the impact this donor has made. Today our big message is THANK YOU! Thank you to everyone that made our campaign a success and helps to further the mission of the University of Missouri and the Libraries.

If items you borrow are overdue, we send you a reminder notice. If you still don’t return them, we send a bill for replacement cost, which is $175 per item. You also won’t be able to place holds or check out anything until either the overdue items are returned or your replacement bill is paid.

Change to library policy due to COVID-19 pandemic: When library materials are returned, they will be placed in quarantine. You will not be assessed fines during the time that a book is being quarantined.

If your overdue book is recalled by another library user, you will be charged $2 per day. If the book is an Interlibrary Loan item, you will be charged $10 per day. You will not be able to borrow anything until you return the item. Again, you will be billed $175 if you do not return the item.

Books borrowed from other libraries through MERLIN or MOBIUS may be subject to overdue fines, which are imposed by those libraries.

More information about library fines, can be found here.

For questions about Ellis Library materials, please contact the Check Out and Information Desk at 573-882-3362.

Masks are now available in the Ellis Library vending machine, located on the first floor, by the north entrance.