Your source for what's new at Mizzou Libraries
The Mizzou Libraries are reaching out to students to gather feedback about their experiences with the libraries. Please complete this short survey. This survey is designed to gather input from students regarding their experiences and satisfaction with the Mizzou Libraries.
Your honest feedback is greatly appreciated and will help us to continuously improve our library and meet the evolving needs of our users. Thank you for your participation!
Have you ever wished for a master list of “those things”—sorted twelve different ways, cross-listed, and checked for duplication? So have we. And thanks to Mariah Newton at the Zalk Veterinary Medical Library, that wish is becoming reality.
Mariah, Library Specialist Sr., recently created a comprehensive spreadsheet mapping the Veterinary Medical Library’s reserve collection. This wasn’t just a list—it was a data-rich tool that captured which textbooks are used in which courses, by which instructors, in what formats, and how frequently. Her work unexpectedly launched a curriculum mapping project, giving the library team a powerful resource to analyze instructional periods, identify overlapping materials, and explore cost-saving opportunities.
This data also opens the door to deeper conversations with faculty and stakeholders about integrating library instruction at key points in the curriculum—ensuring students graduate as information-literate veterinarians. Future additions to the map will include textbook edition updates, faculty assignments, and connections to student organizations like SAVMA and journal clubs.
The Mizzou Libraries will be closed on Tuesday, November 11. Ellis Library will close at 10 p.m. on Monday, November 10, and reopen at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 12. For a complete list of hours, visit library.missouri.edu/hours.
Be part of the celebration!
National First-Generation College Celebration Week is November 3-7. We will be celebrating 5,000+ First-Gen students, faculty, staff, and alumni at our 20+ events campus wide. Please visit the first-gen website for more information and events throughout the week. Events open to all; faculty and staff are encouraged to attend.
Library Events for First-Generation Student Week
Calming Crafternoon, Thursday Nov. 6th 1:30-4:30pm
Ellis Library Colonnade
Join us in taking a calming breath and making a craft. Turn your favorite word or phrase into an affirmation bracelet. All supplies provided.
First-Gen Art Installation Reception, Friday Nov. 7th 4-5pm
Ellis Library Colonnade
Check out theart installation all month long featuring First-gen student artists in the display case located on the main floor of Ellis Library.
Additional Ways the Mizzou Libraries are Working to Support First-Generation Students, Faculty and Staff at MU!
First-Generation College Students Guide
The First-Generation @ Mizzou library guide supports first-generation college students by introducing library services, study spaces, and research tools to help them navigate academic resources with confidence. It also highlights curated materials, campus programs, and celebration events that recognize and connect Mizzou’s first-generation student community.
First-Generation Faculty and Staff Library Guide
The guide for University of Missouri’s “First-Generation Faculty/Staff Initiative” highlights and supports faculty, staff, and academic leaders who are first-generation professionals themselves, showcasing their experiences and visibility. Other faculty and staff may also appreciate this guide’s access to information about first-generation college student’s experiences. It offers curated resources, including articles, books, and other tools, to help these professionals in mentoring, teaching, course design, and supporting first-generation students.
The Missouri Library Association (MLA) has named Jill Kline, student success librarian at the Mizzou Libraries, as the recipient of this year’s Outstanding New Librarian Award. This prestigious recognition celebrates early-career librarians who have made significant contributions to advancing library and information services in Missouri.
Since joining Mizzou two years ago, Jill has made a remarkable impact on student engagement and academic success. Through instructional sessions and campuswide events, she has reached thousands of students, helping them navigate library resources with confidence. Her efforts have led to the development of innovative learning tools and the acquisition of grant funding to support a new well-being book collection.
Jill’s commitment to excellence extends beyond the university. She has presented at regional conferences, including the Missouri Library Association annual conference, and her instructional sessions consistently receive high praise—more than 95% of surveyed students reported they are more likely to use library tools thanks to her guidance.
Her outreach includes leading sessions for middle and high school students and co-developing a new graduate-level library workshop. Jill also serves on university-wide committees focused on first-generation student success and AI literacy, further demonstrating her dedication to inclusive and forward-thinking education.
Congratulations to Jill Kline for her outstanding achievements and for setting a high standard for the future of librarianship in Missouri.
Predatory publishing doesn’t just take advantage of authors by misrepresenting review, editorial, and fee structures. It also hinders access to the work itself, hurting the overall enterprise of research. The epidemic of predatory journals reached serious enough heights in 2016 that the Federal Trade Commission charged OMICS, one such publisher of hundreds of predatory journals, for its deceptive practices.
“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” says Janice Dysart, Science Librarian and creator of the Where to Publish Your Research guide. “Be wary of these email solicitations from publishers trying to get you to submit articles to their journals.” She recommends using the Think Check Submit checklist to determine whether a publisher is legitimate.
Anyone can fall victim to predatory journal publishers. Jung Ha-Brookshire, professor and department chair for the Department of Textile and Apparel Management, relates her experience after a graduate student recommended a journal a few years ago. She says, “I didn’t think twice about it. We submitted our paper and got accepted without any revisions. Then they were asking us to send money somewhere in Pakistan.” She still didn’t realize what was happening because she hadn’t even heard of “predatory journals.”
That all changed about a year later when she learned of a list of predatory journals from her colleagues. “We found out that our journal was on that list,” she says. They tried to withdraw their work from the publication but couldn’t. Because the journal wasn’t legitimate, the article could only be found via the specific URL and not by searching, so they pulled the publication information from their CVs. Jung says, “We had to take that manuscript as a loss because we couldn’t even take that paper to other publishers since, technically, it is already published.”
After that experience, Jung now checks with her subject librarian, Gwen Gray, every time she encounters a journal she hasn’t heard of, “no matter how good the website looks.” Jung advises, “Be careful with choosing the right journals. Do not get fooled by address, location, a beautiful website, and a wonderful set of editorial board names. Check with your librarian first when in doubt!”
In recent news, a team of computer scientists led by a University of Colorado researcher is developing an AI tool for identifying predatory journals. This tool is not currently publicly accessible, but may be in the future.
ChatGPT, one of the most popular artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, uses a language model to respond to questions and compose various written content. Many college students use ChatGPT to help them complete assignments. While there are times when this can be helpful, it has limitations as a reliable research assistant. One thing you need to watch out for is that ChatGPT will sometimes “hallucinate” (fabricate) citations. The citations may sound legitimate and scholarly, but they are not real. If you try to find these sources through Google or the library, you will search in vain.
If you need help finding resources on a topic, just Ask a Librarian to help you find real resources so you can be successful on your next assignment!
International Open Access Week is October 20-26! This year’s theme, Who Owns Our Knowledge?, invites us to reflect on how research is shared and who has access to it.
Explore open access through our recorded workshops:
Check out the library guide to learn more about why open access is important, how you can publish your work openly, and how to retain your copyright.
This Open Access Week we’re excited to share that MOspace, the University of Missouri’s institutional repository of open access research and scholarship, is undergoing a major upgrade! While the new platform isn’t launching just yet, here’s what you can look forward to:
Please note: Due to the migration, there will be an upload freeze from October 13 to November 3. During this time, no new items can be added to MOspace. The migration is currently in progress, and we can’t wait to unveil the new and improved MOspace soon. Stay tuned!
When Dr. Richard J. Barohn, executive vice chancellor for Health Affairs, joined a group of medical students at Ellis Library’s Special Collections, his goal was for his students to learn about the history of science. Guided by Dr. John Henry Adams, an instruction and research librarian, the students explored some of Mizzou’s antiquarian science books in the fourth-floor classroom.
“Isaac Newton once said, ‘We can see further because we are standing on the shoulders of giants,’” Barohn stated. “This visit gave our students the chance to quite literally meet those giants whose discoveries continue to shape their training.”
Students were invited to handle rare and historic volumes, a privilege once reserved for gloved hands but now safely done with clean, bare hands thanks to modern preservation practices. They began with a first edition of Galileo’s Dialogo (Florence, 1632), in which he used the newly invented telescope to confirm that the Earth revolves around the sun. They then examined two of Isaac Newton’s works: The mathematical principles of natural philosophy (London, 1729) and Opticks (London, 1730).”
The journey continued into the realm of medicine. Students read an early edition of Thomas Willis’s Practice of physick (Long, 1684), an anatomy book, where he described the intricate blood vessels of the brain—now known as the “Circle of Willis.” They also explored a first edition of Charles Bell’s The Nervous System of the Human Body (Washington, 1883), detailing the anatomy of the facial nerve and the clinical features of facial paralysis, now universally known as “Bell’s Palsy.”
Marian Toledo Candelaria, the head of Special Collections, stated, “The books that the School of Medicine students explored are some of the foundational texts of modern scientific thought. Designing relevant experiential learning opportunities is at the heart of what Special Collections offers to the Mizzou community, and students had the opportunity to touch, view, and discuss the books that contributed to making the medical field what it is today. We are thankful to Dr. Barohn and his students for championing Special Collections as an important partner in supporting STEM education at Mizzou.”
Barohn extended his thanks to the Mizzou Libraries, especially the Special Collections librarians, for making the experience possible. “Their stewardship of these collections ensures that our students can connect with the history of science and medicine in ways that inspire learning for generations to come.”