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Ellis Library is open from noon on Sunday until midnight on Friday and from 8 am until midnight on Saturday.
Students have consistently asked for longer hours, so the hours have been extended to meet student needs.
For a complete list of all library hours, please visit library.missouri.edu/hours.
Tove Klovning, who serves as US, MO, and EU Government Documents Depository Coordinator as well as Foreign/Comparative/International Law Librarian & Lecturer in Law at Washington University in St. Louis, often interacts with researchers seeking access to both historical and current government information. She explains, “Preserving government information and making it accessible for both current researchers and future generations is an important task for depository libraries.” In her work at a sub-regional and Federal depository library, she has benefited from the direction and guidance of Marie Concannon, Missouri’s regional coordinator for the Federal Depository Library Program and Head of Government Information and Data Archives here at Mizzou Libraries.
Tove says she “honestly could not have wished for a more competent Regional Depository Coordinator. Marie is always there to answer any questions we may have and is always willing to offer training, updates, and continuing education to both new and established depository librarians on a regular basis.” For example, when Tove needed input regarding weeding the local collection, Marie consulted with her.
Marie has also worked to help libraries free up much-needed space while retaining government resources in the region: “Thanks to her great work with area depository librarians, an Intrastate Regional agreement was put into place in 2012.” This model encouraged depository libraries to stay in the program, Tove explains, since sharing resources helps each individual library better cope with the perpetual struggle of space issues. Marie met face-to-face with about a dozen depository libraries in St. Louis to facilitate the process of drafting this agreement.
In terms of training and support for depository librarians in the region, Tove has found that Marie plays a vital role as educator. A frequently consulted resource is a guide for Missouri FDLP members which helps librarians navigate the federal depository system. Marie built and maintains this guide to facilitate online access to crucial information for these librarians and help keep them informed of training opportunities and conferences.
Organizing workshops and conferences is another way Marie makes sure librarians can get up-to-date training on government information so that they can help patrons access the data they need. In November, Missouri state government employees and both academic and public library employees attended the Missouri State Government Information Conference, which she co-organized. The 2017 theme was “Sunshine and Missouri’s Digital Future,” taking its name from the state Sunshine Law. Marie says the conference’s purpose is “to bridge the gap between libraries and government, and help lay groundwork for closer partnership on projects involving government information accessibility.”
For all of these reasons and more, as Tove says, “We are very fortunate to have Marie as our Federal and State Regional Coordinator.”
Cycle of Success is the idea that libraries, faculty, and students are linked; for one to truly succeed, we must all succeed. The path to success is formed by the connections between University of Missouri Libraries and faculty members, between faculty members and students, and between students and the libraries that serve them. More than just success, this is also a connection of mutual respect, support, and commitment to forward-thinking research.
Although the Cycle of Success typically focuses on the relationships among the Libraries, faculty, and students, the Libraries also contribute to the success of all the communities Mizzou serves. The Libraries are an integral part of Mizzou’s mission “to provide all Missourians the benefits of a world-class research university.”
If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.
To Alex Johar, Mizzou felt like home.
“It feels cliché to say, but it’s the truth. Not only is our campus absolutely gorgeous, the people that are there make you feel as though you can succeed the moment you meet them.” As an electrical engineering student, he knew the non-traditional path to medical school he chose wouldn’t be easy, but Mizzou offered him the resources in order to follow his dream and excel right from the beginning.
These days, you can find Alex, like many engineering students, in the Engineering Library, a place he credits as being instrumental to his success as a Mizzou student. The library offers invaluable collaborative space for students studying various engineering specialties and resources on cutting edge innovation in the field.
“My favorite thing about the Engineering Library is the space it provides to engineering students near our classes, peers, and professors. Although the Lafferre renovation has provided more study rooms, they are always occupied, and often not even by engineering students. The library allows students to study individually, work on a group project, or prepare for an exam with friends. As engineering spans a wide range of topics, everyone working in the same place is helpful when there are assignments requiring the intersection of multiple engineering disciplines.”
Through his regular library use, Alex became passionate about the libraries, ultimately serving as the 2016-2017 chair of the University Libraries Student Advisory Council (ULSAC). As chair, he advocated for students’ resource needs, something he says is vital to any Mizzou student experience. Students know what they need to succeed, and ULSAC wants to make sure student voices are heard.
Over the past two years, ULSAC has been hard at work collecting data from students, developing a student vision for the library in order to make sure all students, regardless of their involvement or backgrounds, are supported by the University Libraries.
Mizzou is what you make of it, and not only will Alex remember the energy of the Mizzou Vs. Mississippi State football game (his favorite Mizzou memory), he will also remember how personally and academically supportive the Mizzou community was. “I cannot wait to come back to Mizzou one day and see students from other universities’ student library councils touring our libraries to bring back ideas for their schools and I am very thankful for the opportunity to have been the Chair of such an amazing council of student leaders that made this possible.”
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Tutors from the Writing Center offer one-on-one writing support in Ellis Library. All Mizzou students can take advantage of this service. Tutors can help with all stages of the writing process: brainstorming, revising, polishing a final draft. They are familiar with a variety of writing styles and formats.
Writing Tutors’ Schedule
Ellis Library, Room 151-E
Spring 2018
Tuesday, January 16 through Finals Week
(no tutors during Spring Break)
Sunday 4:00 – 9:00 pm
Monday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Tuesday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Wednesday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Thursday 11:00 am – 9:00 pm
Sign up for appointments on the sign-up sheet which will be posted on the door to Room 151-E at the start of tutoring hours that day. Appointments are for fifty minutes.
Visit the Writing Center’s website to find out more about the writing assistance they offer.
Civil Engineering student Elgin Burton decided to attend Mizzou after meeting with recruiters at his high school in East St. Louis, Illinois, deciding to visit, and “falling in love with the campus.” Once he arrived, Burton got involved in a number of organizations. He is currently the president of the national award-winning Timber Bridge Team. He is also T.O.R.C.H (Technical Outreach Community Help) chair for Mizzou’s chapter the National Society of Black Engineers. Once he graduates in May 2018, Burton plans on a career in transportation engineering.
Burton says, “The Engineering Library is a huge resource to me in more ways than one. The obvious one is that there are books here that I can use for all of my classes. The one I just turned in today, I used for my class all semester.”
Burton also likes that that the Engineering Library is a gathering place for his classmates. “This is a place where I do a lot of my studying, so I meet a lot of people here who are also studying the same things. A lot of collaboration happens here. Whenever I am working on a project, we usually meet in the Engineering Library. If I am struggling with a problem, I can usually find people who can help me solve it here. Or I’ll see somebody in my class, introduce myself, and ask how they are solving the problem. I meet many people in different ways at the Engineering Library. There is not another space in the building like that. ”
One of Burton’s favorite Mizzou memories is getting to know the libraries. “it was almost an oddly intimate relationship I had with Ellis and other libraries like the Math Library and [the Engineering Library], because I was completely new to the experience—I was new to Columbia, Missouri, I was new to college, I was new to a research library of that size—and over the course of my college career, Ellis Library especially became my home away from my apartment, where I feel most comfortable on campus.”
If there was one piece of advice that Burton could give to future students, Burton says, it would be to use your resources. He acknowledges that “it can be difficult to tell new students to take advantage of your resources because they might not know about them, but the best thing to do is just to open up to opportunities and be willing to try new things. Getting involved in organizations relevant to your degree gives you contextual information and it gives you a sense of purpose. ‘I am here doing this. I am here making this change.’”
“You leave a lasting impact on the university. It also leaves a lasting impact on you.”
Daniel B. Domingues da Silva, former Assistant Professor of History at Mizzou, won the Center for Research Libraries‘ 2017 Award for Teaching, part of their annual Primary Source Awards. Rachel Brekhus, Humanities Librarian, nominated him for his creative use of primary sources in his Writing Intensive course Fighting the Atlantic Slave Trade.
Now an assistant professor of African history at Rice University, Daniel held the same position at Mizzou from 2012 to 2017, teaching courses on the history of early and modern Africa. His research focuses on the African slave trade, especially from West Central Africa, and he has participated in several digital humanities projects such as Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database and Visualizing Abolition: A Digital History of the Suppression of the African Slave Trade. Visualizing Abolition was developed here at Mizzou.
Daniel credits Rachel and other Mizzou librarians with playing key roles in his research and teaching. “They not only helped me secure important primary and secondary sources for my research,” he says, “but they also created study guides for my students, workshops on how to conduct research, and trained students in operating related equipment and computer softwares. They also reviewed applications and nominated students and myself to internal and external research and teaching awards.”
Humanities librarian Anne Barker provided students with valuable insights into copyright issues and the use of images. Digital services librarian Felicity Dykas trained students on scanning techniques and image specifications. In the spring of 2017, Ellis Library hosted an exhibit about the making of the Visualizing Abolition project, providing students an opportunity to showcase their work.
Prior to the CRL Award for Teaching, Daniel had won teaching awards within the University of Missouri campus community and considers those awards “an important way of rewarding faculty for their teaching achievements” and letting faculty know they are on the right track. However, he says “the CRL award was something different. As a global consortium of research libraries, it meant that I was not only a good teacher among my peers at Mizzou, but that my teaching skills were also appreciated among a much larger community of scholars.”
Cycle of Success is the idea that libraries, faculty, and students are linked; for one to truly succeed, we must all succeed. The path to success is formed by the connections between University of Missouri Libraries and faculty members, between faculty members and students, and between students and the libraries that serve them. More than just success, this is also a connection of mutual respect, support, and commitment to forward-thinking research.
If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.
Check out the “Travel Near and Far” exhibit on display in the Ellis Library Colonnade through the end of January.
Katie Barthel’s DoodleStation began as a series of doodles created while attending professional training sessions as a CPA. Doodling was a way for her to express her creativity. Her first drawings were inspired by her trip to Australia, and after positive responses and encouragement from friends, she decided to turn those drawings into a business.
DoodleStation’s slogan is “Doodling your life, your experiences, your travels,” and Katie loves having the opportunity to brighten somebody’s day with one of her doodles. “Travel Near and Far” features landmarks from some of her favorite places–Columbia, Kansas City, and Australia–as well doodles meant to inspire viewers to explore more in their own lives.
Katie asks, “What is life if not one grand adventure?”
Although the Cycle of Success typically focuses on the relationships among the Libraries, faculty, and students, the Libraries also contribute to the success of all the communities Mizzou serves. The Libraries are an integral part of Mizzou’s mission “to provide all Missourians the benefits of a world-class research university, no matter their age. The fifth graders from Grant Elementary School recently visited the Special Collections Department to get an in-depth look what the department has to offer.
Matt Kuensting and John Nies, fifth grade teachers at Grant Elementary, recognize the importance of community connections, and five years ago, revised their practice to focus on community connections. Since their revision, they have taken their students into the community to observe and cultivate their interests, and one of those stops is to Special Collections. Kelli Hansen, Tim Perry and the Special Collections staff, took the students through three stations based in the evolution of technology, map making, and historical botany books.
“Ellis Library is one of our first places we visit, and many kids favorite place. These experiences are very impactful for us because our students are currently studying observing organisms like plants, they are making maps of their own imaginative worlds, and technology is one of the biggest integrations in our community project.”
We asked John Nies what advice he would give for those interested in using the library: “[The] advice I would give to those interested in using the library is… GO! Spend some time walking around the displays in the main hall, visit the Special Collections, and wander a bit. The staff has always been helpful. The building itself is fascinating and it holds an eternity of interesting materials.”
Cycle of Success is the idea that libraries, faculty, and students are linked; for one to truly succeed, we must all succeed. The path to success is formed by the connections between University of Missouri Libraries and faculty members, between faculty members and students, and between students and the libraries that serve them. More than just success, this is also a connection of mutual respect, support, and commitment to forward-thinking research.
If you would like to submit your own success story about how the libraries have helped your research and/or work, please use the Cycle of Success form.
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The University Libraries Undergraduate Research Contest recognizes and rewards outstanding research conducted by undergraduate students at the University of Missouri. Undergraduates in any discipline are invited to enter the contest, which will be judged by a cross-disciplinary panel of librarians.
One $500 scholarship, and one $250 scholarship will be awarded to an individual or group project. The winners will have their projects archived in MOspace, MU’s digital repository.
The research project can be a traditional research paper, a musical composition, a work of art, a video, a web page, or other creative work. It has to have been researched using the resources of the MU Libraries. The project will be judged primarily on sophistication of the research process and the materials used (as documented in the Research Process Statement).
Examples of projects:
The deadline for submission of all materials is January 31, 2018.
Questions? Contact Sandy Schiefer at schiefers@missouri.edu
Ellis Library will be open continuously from Monday, December 4 to Friday, December 15 at 7 pm. For additional information about service hours and specialized library hours, visit library.missouri.edu/hours.