In the pre-internet age, most government information was distributed through the U.S. Government Printing Office, and public and college libraries throughout the United States were responsible for providing public access to that information.Today, most government information intended for public distribution is posted directly to the internet. Publication patterns in this digital environment are not as predictable, and the responsibility for preserving information has become considerably more unclear. Today historians who seek information in libraries sometimes learn that information, which was once available on a government website, was deleted before it could be saved.
To study the extent of this problem and help propose solutions, the University of Missouri Libraries joined a small group of libraries led by Martin Halbert and Robbie Sittel of the University of North Texas to form the PEGI (Preservation of Government Information) Project. Funded by an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant, PEGI worked for two years, meeting with government agency representatives, industry leaders, library administrators and others to define the scope of the problem and chart pathways forward. The University of Missouri Libraries are proud to have been part of the founding PEGI Project team (link: https://www.pegiproject.org/project-team).
The final report “Toward a Shared Agenda: Report on PEGI Project Activities for 2017-2019” received the Margaret T. Lane/ Virginia F. Saunders Memorial Research Award. This award is given annually to an author or shared among collaborative authors of an outstanding research article in which government documents, either published or archival in nature, form a substantial part of the documented research. University of Missouri librarian Marie Concannon was a co-author on this report.
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!
The Mizzou Libraries have operated remotely since mid-March due to the COVID-19 emergency. In July we began curbside pickup service for MU faculty and students. This service will continue in a modified version throughout the fall semester.
As the campus welcomed students for the fall semester, the University Libraries began offering limited hours and study spaces in Ellis Library and most of the specialized libraries starting Monday, August 17.
Many library services — including consultations and assistance, library instruction, reserves and events — will continue remotely online through the fall with some in-person options. The emphasis on remote library services will allow faculty and students to continue their work, regardless of location.
“We want Mizzou students and faculty to have a successful fall semester! That begins by doing everything we can to keep people safe,” said Deb Ward, interim vice provost for University Libraries and University Librarian.
Among the changes that library users will find when Ellis Library reopens:
Everyone in library buildings will need to wear a face mask and maintain 6 feet of physical distancing.
An MU ID will be required to access the building after 5 pm.
Ellis Library will have limited hours. The library will close most nights at 10 pm, and the Check Out and Information desk will close at 8 pm. Visit library.missouri.edu/hours for the latest information on all campus library 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.
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.
Only the west entrance of Ellis Library (near Speaker’s Circle) will be open throughout the fall semester. The North entrance and the two reading rooms on the 2nd floor will be closed due to renovations of their windows.
The west stacks will be closed. To request books or other items, please place an online request and the library will retrieve them for you.
Circulation of books will resume, but receiving materials from other libraries may take longer. All materials will 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.
Bookmark Cafe will be open but with a limited menu and seating. Food will only be allowed on the ground floor of the library. Beverages in closed containers are allowed in Ellis Library.
DigiPrint services have moved out of Ellis Library and will be 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.
We are pleased to share that MOBIUS and traditional Interlibrary Loan (ILL) borrowing resumes as of August 3rd. The service may be slower than in past years as most libraries are allowing time to quarantine books and some libraries remain closed or are open with limited staffing.
H5P is an easy (and free!) way to make interactive content in a variety of formats – which can also be embedded in Canvas. A few examples of this platform include:
Interactive videos with a variety of questions, additional resources, and more that can be added directly into videos.
Course presentations with interaction added into slide decks that students participate in before advancing.
Dialog cards (and flash cards) allow instructors to add audio to a flash card deck – perfect for teaching languages or for audio learners. Similarly, Speak the Word Sets create assignments that can be answered by the student’s voice.
In Perusall, students can annotate readings within the text itself, and asynchronously respond to each other’s comments and questions in context. Rather than jumping between an assigned reading and multiple discussion board threads, questions and conversations happen in a living document.
As an instructor, you can assign interactions (required number of questions asked in the text/number of comments and answers to other students questions), and grades sync automatically with Canvas. You also can see which areas where your students have questions, or don’t quite grasp concepts, and tailor class time as needed.
This tool works with articles, OER sources, materials you’ve created, and even published textbooks (although students do need to purchase textbooks through the platform, which can work with the campus bookstore). Check out this demo, or one of the free webinars offered by Perusall to learn more.
Video can be a powerful component for the online learning experience. Panopto is a tool already integrated into Canvas that makes working with video easy!
With Panopto, you can:
Record and edit short clips or lectures from where ever you are, using your computer or mobile device
Create quizzes and interactive questions at strategic points in the middle of videos, that students must complete before continuing
Embed Panopto videos directly into Canvas modules
Easily add captions
Include PDFs, webpages, and slides in videos
This quick run down doesn’t cover even half of what Panopto can do. Visit the Panopto community to get started.
Reading List Maker is designed for instructors to search the Libraries collection and add materials to course reading lists, all while within their course page on Canvas.
Rather than going through eReserves, or uploading PDFs into your course page, this tool allows you to simply search for either the title of an article in Canvas, or for materials in general ,the same way you would on the Libraries page. In addition to ease of use, when you use Reading List Maker, copyright is completely covered – and the Libraries get accurate data regarding use.
To use this tool once in your Canvas course page, navigate to the Modules tab.
Library circulation services ceased abruptly in mid-March at the beginning of the Covid-19 closures. Reopening these services will be incremental starting July 1, and continue gradually until full check out services will be restored by the beginning of the fall semester.
How does Ellis Library Curbside Pickup work?
Starting July 1, curbside pickup of MU library materials will be available for MU-affiliated library users. Library materials requested through the MERLIN catalog (up to 30 requests per user) may be picked up at the Ellis Library Loading Dock. When the books requested (See How to Request/Place Holds for Curbside Pickup) are ready for pickup, you will receive an email with a link to the Ellis Library Loading Dock appointment calendar with instructions to select a time. (Pickup slots are 15 minutes long, Mon-Fri, between 10am-3pm.) You will not be able to make an appointment before the books are ready.
When you arrive during your 15-minute appointment, park in the loading dock area (or nearby on Hitt Street) and call the Check Out Desk (573-882-3362). Staff will then deliver your bag of checked out library materials. Please have your ID card out and ready to view. Staff are not able to accept library returns during pickup appointments. Please return library materials in the book drop located at the Ellis Library West Entrance, accessible 24/7.
How long must I wait to pick up my books after I place the request/hold?
Due to on-site staffing shortages, book quarantines, and reduction in some library services, the time for this process may take four to eight business days. We will try as hard as possible to fill requests quickly.
Can I get books from the specialized libraries?
Books from the specialized libraries may be picked up at Ellis Library, but this may take a few additional days. If you wish to pick up these books at the specialized libraries, however, please contact that library directly for specific details.
Curbside pickup for non-MU library users and for materials from other MERLIN and MOBIUS libraries will be available later this summer. In addition, equipment check out will resume when the fall semester begins.
Summer officially arrived a couple of weekends ago, and with it the promise of many hot, sunny days — days just right for a nice dip in a cool body of water. As you gather up your swimming gear for a trip to your favorite secret swimming hole, backyard slip ‘n slide, or social distancing pool, we invite you to consider what that swimming kit would have looked like in years gone by with the help of a government document.
An MU Librarian in Jefferson City in 1969.
Published in 1969, Women’s Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States is a paper from the Smithsonian Institution’s Bulletin series. In it, costume historian Claudia B. Kidwell traces the evolution of the bathing costume and, later, the swimming costume, starting in the late 18th century. At the same time, she sheds light on history of the sport itself.
In the late 1700s and into the 1850s, long linen or flannel bathing gowns were worn by bathers such as Martha Washington when they went for therapeutic plunges in mineral springs (p.6-7). These loose gowns resembled the chemise, an undergarment also worn at the time, but were usually in dark colors to better hide the figure. Some had weighted hems or were belted to keep them in place when entering the water (p.14-15).
Next, from the 1840s to 1870s, came the bifurcated bathing dress featuring pantaloons under a long overdress or combination of blouse and skirt made of woolen, linen or serge fabric. This style gave bathers more freedom to frolic in the waves on the seashore. Some of the ankle length drawers, or bloomers, featured suspenders, while others were belted. Straw bathing hats, a hooded bathing mantle or cloak, and manila or cork slippers completed the ensemble (p. 16-20).
A swim cap in 1942.
Starting in the 1880s and into the first quarter of the 20th century, the princess style bathing dress was to be found worn by beach-goers. A combination blouse and drawers with a removable skirt, this style allowed even more activity in the water. The skirt could be taken off while swimming, then modestly buttoned back to the waist when out of the water. Serge and mohair fabrics in dark blue and black were commonly used. Sleeves began to shorten during this time, and the use of knitted bathing tights instead of drawers or knickerbockers appeared in the 1890s. Waxed linen, oiled silk, or rubber bathing caps, sometimes covered by a bright turban, protected the hair (p.21-23).
By 1917, there were a two main options for bathing suits: a loose straight suit with no waistline worn with a belt or sash at the hips or the short-sleeved surplice suit with a skirt and bloomers. A third option, the knitted jersey suit, was reserved for expert swimmers (p.26-27). And with the growing popularity of swimming, such swimming suits all but replaced the prior bathing costumes in the 1920s (p.24).
The earliest swimming suits for women appeared in the 1880s; called “bathing jerseys”, they were form-fitting tunics that reached mid-thigh, featured high necks and cap sleeves, and were worn over trunks and stockings or tights (p.24). Knitted one-piece, skirtless swimsuits of the style typical for men were worn by pioneering women swimmers in the late 1900s and 1910s (p.26). By the 1920s, one- and two-piece knitted swimming suits were available; they were worn with stockings and satin or canvas slippers and accompanied by a beach cloak or wide-collared bathing wraps, colorful beach hats, and parasols (p.28). Necklines and armholes grew lower as the decade progressed and by the 1930s, when having a sun tan became popular, “swimming suits covered less of the bather” (p.30).
An MU Librarian’s grandparents on their honeymoon in Mexico in 1946.
In the 30s, colorful suits featuring novelty effects were produced as swimsuits became stylish as well as functional. The introduction of man-made fabrics and elastic yarn were important innovations in the emerging swim suit industry. The 1940s saw the first bikini arrive in the U.S. from France, while in the 1950s swim suits were designed to sculpt and control the figure with the help of the skillful use of fabrics and plastic boning (p.31-32).
As shown in this highlight of Ms. Kidwell’s interesting look at the history of swimwear, the bathing and swimming costumes worn by our ancestors mirrored the changing social acceptability of swimming over the years. So as you put on your goggles this weekend, give a thought to those who used to swim swathed in yards of fabric or in itchy wool suits!
An MU Librarian’s grandfather in the mid 1930s.At the beach in 1935!An MU Librarian’s grandmother at the pool in Kansas City in the late 1940s.
