Vera Elwood will be leaving the University of Missouri Libraries on Friday, November 22nd. I cannot express the level of gratitude and appreciation I have for working with Vera for the last two and a half years while she served in the role as Head Librarian for the Journalism Library. Vera will be deeply missed as she has made such a positive impact and brought forward much needed change at the Journalism Library. She has accepted a newly created position as the Coordinator of Youth Programming for The Center Project, which is a local community organization that Vera has supported and volunteered with for the last several years. Please join me in wishing Vera all the best in her new adventure supporting our local community. I am working to develop a plan for covering the Journalism Library so more details will be announced.

-Chris Pryor

As you know, the election is next Tuesday, November 5. Early voting is already taking place. If you haven’t voted yet, here is the University’s policy regarding taking time off to vote. The policy, HR-411 Voting Leave, can be found online. Please review the policy. It details the conditions for granting time off, including the requirement that employees must contact their supervisor before election day to request to be absent from work for voting. Supervisors can specify when employees are out of the office to vote so there is coverage.

I am pleased to announce that Jara Anderson has agreed to serve as the Interim Head Librarian of the Zalk Veterinary Medical Library starting November 1st. Rae Thudium is still in her role until December 11th so Jara will have some time to onboard and familiarize herself with the role prior to Rae’s departure to the University of Pennsylvania. Jara has been serving as the Agriculture, Natural Resources & Extension Librarian since December 1, 2023 and prior to that she was the LIS Sr. at the Veterinary Medical Library. I appreciate Jara’s willingness along with Jeannette Pierce’s and Rhonda Whithaus’ partnership with me to help support the Vet Med Library during this time of transition. The Health Sciences Library Information Services team will also be helping Jara in her role as interim to alleviate some of the pressure so she can continue to make the wonderful progress she had started in her role as the Agriculture and Extension Librarian. We are working to finalize a job description in anticipation of posting the permanent position later this fall. More details are forthcoming about that. I am grateful for everyone’s support as we continue to keep the Vet Med Library moving forward.