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As an incentive for taking part in the 2011 LibQUAL+ survey, Mississippi State University Libraries offered MSU students, staff, and faculty the chance to receive one of four gift cards from local vendors Barnes & Noble and Strange Brew Coffee House.
Pictured here are three of the four recipients along with Stephen Cunetto, Administrator of Systems for MSU Libraries (far right). The recipients included (l to r) Sarah Self, an instructor in the Department of Biological Sciences; freshman electrical engineering major Daniel Crist; and senior chemical engineering major John Carroll. Not pictured is the fourth winner of the drawing, senior kinesiology major Parker Snow.
The LibQUAL+ survey is a rigorously tested Web-based survey that helps MSU Libraries improve library services, gain a better understanding of user perceptions of service quality, and market the Libraries.
For more information on MSU Libraries, please contact Lyle Tate at 662-325-2559.
Photo credit: Jim Tomlinson/MSU Libraries
Submitted by
Angela M. Patton
Library Associate
Mississippi State University Libraries
Posted: January 31st, 2012
Mississippi State University Libraries has expanded access to critical research materials in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences by more than 4.5 million publications, archives, and collections and one million digital resources by enrolling in the Center for Research Libraries (CRL) consortium.
CRL’s collections include the largest collection of circulating newspapers in North America; more than 38,000 international journals that are rarely held in U.S. libraries; more than 800,000 non-U.S./non-Canadian doctoral dissertations; and major collections from Africa, Latin America, Middle East, Europe, Asia, Southeast Asia, and holdings that support in-depth research in areas such as human rights, history of science, cultural studies, international diplomacy, and more.
Benefits for MSU Libraries patrons include: unlimited access to CRL collections, unlimited free interlibrary loan access, project-length loan periods, third-day delivery on the vast majority of loaned materials, and an array of collaborative acquisition programs and user services designed by librarians to facilitate scholarly research and support collection development activities.
For more information on MSU Libraries and to peruse its numerous databases, please visit http://library.msstate.edu/.
Submitted by
Angela M. Patton
Library Associate
Mississippi State University Libraries
Posted: January 10th, 2012
Earlier in December before Mississippi State students finished final exams and headed home for the holidays, something special at the University’s Mitchell Memorial Library was reminding them that Christmastime was here.
In addition to the large, brightly adorned tree at the entryway, there was another seasonal display drawing even more attention–and eye-popping admiration.
Though only a small fraction of the tree’s size, the gingerbread replica of the library itself represented a labor of love by two library staff members who delighted in the opportunity to think outside the bakery box. What Bobbie Huddleston and Faye Fulgham built was, at once, both impressive and just plain fun.
Among the features were blue window panes made from melted Jolly Ranchers, Christmas carolers from upside-down ice cream cones–complete with peppermint candy faces–and gift boxes from Starbursts, along with icing ribbons and bows. A special touch was the candy replica of Frances Coleman, MSU dean of libraries, and tiny gingerbread MSU fans ringing cowbells.
Huddleston, instructional media center assistant, and Fulgham, a library associate, were among the many staff members who contributed displays for a November gala held to thank library friends and others, and to launch the holiday season.
After brainstorming for a time, Huddleston and Fulgham came up with the idea of a gingerbread structure that might turn heads and cause jaws to drop.
“It was okay for us to play at work because it was for a library program,” Fulgham said. “We did several displays centered around Eudora Welty for the Maroon Edition project this year, and she had some recipes in one of her books.
“I baked her fruitcake for the gala also, so the cooking idea initially came from our emphasis on Welty this year,” she added.
The longtime colleagues went all out to create the scaled replica of their workplace. No detail of the massive Drill Field-facing brick building was spared.
“Ms. Faye and I just got kind of excited,” Huddleston recalled, with a smile.
Fulgham had gingerbread experience, having made related items for her church and grandchildren. For Huddleston, a project of this kind was a first, but her creativity and knack for design were valuable skills she brought to the table.
“Bobbie was the engineer, and I was the day labor,” Fulgham joked.
Beginning in late October and balancing their other work responsibilities, Huddleston began designing the project’s structural supports, while Fulgham searched print books and the Internet for decorative ideas. Before they knew it, the assembly phase was at hand.
“I used Betty Crocker gingerbread mix; that’s the best,” Fulgham explained, adding that the real fun began with the “embellishment” phase.
“When it came toward the end, we pretty much sat in the back room and worked on it all day,” Huddleston said.
Fulgham added: “We did a lot of research, and got ideas. When we saw a picture, we made it, whether we had instructions or not.”
Their hard work and efforts were rewarded when the miniature Mitchell proved to be a big hit with the festival audience, and, subsequently, with students and library visitors for the remainder of the semester.
The gingerbread emitted a comfortable holiday aroma, but it was the many decorative details that made the display a focal point worthy of wonderment. Huddleston said she witnessed countless students making photographs of the creation.
“It was fun; it really was,” Fulgham said. “Bobbie and I had a good time.”
Huddleston observed that, while “most everyone around knew we were putting it together, I don’t think they knew how big it was going to be and how much detail we were putting into it.
“I think most everybody was surprised,” she concluded, with obvious pride
Not surprisingly, Fulgham and Huddleston said they would be willing to undertake the project again, because the work they did to prepare the holiday display was a treat in itself.
“There’re not many people, other than those who work in a bakery, that get to say ‘I made a gingerbread house at work!’” Huddleston said.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see www.msstate.edu.
Photo by Megan Bean, University Relations
Submitted by
Lyle Tate
Dean’s Office – Special Events
Mississippi State University Libraries
Posted: December 20th, 2011
Applications are now being accepted for the exciting and challenging position of Editor for the quarterly publication, Mississippi Libraries. This award-winning publication, published by the Mississippi Library Association, has had a long line of excellent editors. The MLA seeks an enthusiastic and energetic person to follow in their footsteps.
The new editor will be responsible for issues of Mississippi Libraries for a three-year period beginning with Spring 2012 and ending Winter 2014. A stipend is awarded to the editor each year and he/she is able to choose his/her own editorial staff.
Qualifications include: experience in writing and editing, excellent organizational skills and ability to meet deadlines, excellent time-management skills in coordinating multiple projects/tasks at the same time; ability to delegate responsibility; ability to plan for and anticipate future areas of professional interest and develop new ideas; ability to be tactful and work well with others; excellent skills in computer software applications and proofreading skills. Experience in page layout/design is preferred.
Please send a letter of application, resume and two work-related references by December 15 to:
Mary Julia Anderson
MLA Executive Secretary
PO Box 13687
Jackson, MS 39236-3687
Advertised by the Executive Board of the Mississippi Library Association
Posted: November 21st, 2011
For its fall semester installments of the Morris W.H. “Bill” Collins Speaker Series, Mississippi State University Libraries hosted U.S. Archivist David Ferriero on September 26 and Director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library Alan Lowe on October 26.
Ferriero was confirmed as our nation’s 10th Archivist on November 6, 2009. Previously, he served as the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries where he was part of the leadership team responsible for integrating the four research libraries and 87 branch libraries into one seamless service for users, creating the largest public library system in the U.S. and one of the largest research libraries in the world.
Lowe began serving in 2009 as Director of the George W. Bush Presidential Library, whose mission is to serve as a resource for the study of the life of George W. Bush, the Presidency, American history, issues of public policy, and civic education. Currently located in a temporary building in Lewisville, TX, the Library will move to a new facility on the campus of Southern Methodist University, opening to the public in 2013.
The Morris W.H. (Bill) Collins Speaker Series is sponsored by MSU Libraries, MSU’s John C. Stennis Institute of Government, the Stennis Center for Public Service, The Congressional and Political Research Center, and the Stennis Montgomery Association. The Collins Speaker Series brings leading figures of the day to the Mississippi State University campus to engage in close, personal discussions about their lives and careers.
For more information on MSU Libraries’ Collins Speaker Series, please visit http://library.msstate.edu/collins/index.asp.
Submitted by
Lyle Tate
Dean’s Office – Special Events
Mississippi State University Libraries
Posted: November 7th, 2011
Mississippi State University Libraries is proud to welcome a new faculty member to its Reference Department.
Ula Gabrielle Gaha joined MSU Libraries’ faculty as an Assistant Professor/Social Science Reference Librarian in September 2011. She completed her M.L.I.S. in 2010 at the University of South Carolina, Columbia (USC). In December of this year, she will earn her Specialist degree in Library and Information Science with an emphasis in academic libraries from USC. Ula also earned her M.A. in English with a concentration in 20th century American literature from USC in 2010, and she completed her B.A. in English literature with a minor in women’s studies in 2007 at Augusta State University in Georgia.
For more information on MSU Libraries, please visit https://library.msstate.edu/
Posted: November 7th, 2011
If you attended the conference, please complete the evaluation form. If you did not complete the printed version at the conference please take a few minutes to complete the online evaluation which can be found at http://tinyurl.com/3sogu28
Posted: October 26th, 2011
Greta Wood, Assistant Professor/Instructional Services Librarian at Mississippi State University Libraries, has been selected to participate in the American Library Association’s 2012 Class of Emerging Leaders (http://www.ala.org/ala/educationcareers/leadership/emergingleaders/index.cfm). This six-month leadership development program for newer librarians is limited to no more than 75 participants from across the country.
Posted: October 24th, 2011
Shirley Reiff Howarth – director of the Montreal, Quebec-based Humanities Exchange – and Mississippi costumer and designer Myrna Colley-Lee were special guests of MSU Libraries as Ms. Howarth researched the Myrna Colley-Lee Collection at Mitchell Memorial Library.
Founded in 1981, The Humanities Exchange is devoted to the international exchange and touring of museum exhibitions and to encouraging understanding and mutual respect among cultures around the world. Ms. Howarth, an art historian and former museum director and curator who has worked with museums for over 35 years, is researching Colley-Lee’s work in preparation for a book and a major exhibition.
Donated to MSU Libraries in 2006, the Myrna Colley-Lee Collection, housed in Mitchell Memorial Library’s Special Collections department, consists of scripts, photographs, costuming breakdowns, rehearsal notes from directors, research, playbills, newspaper articles, and thank-you notes from cast members and production crews, as well as other novelties.
For more information about the Myrna Colley-Lee Collection, please contact Mattie Abraham, Coordinator of Special Collections, at 662-325-3848. For more information on MSU Libraries, please visit http://library.msstate.edu/.
Jim Tomlinson/MSU Libraries
Working with Colley-Lee’s collection are (clockwise from left) Mattie Abraham, Coordinator for Special Collections’ Manuscripts Division, MSU Libraries; Gerald Chaudron, Manuscripts faculty member, MSU Libraries; Donisha Smiley, Manuscripts library assistant, MSU Libraries; Howarth; and Colley-Lee.
Submitted by
Angela M. Patton
Library Associate
Mississippi State University Libraries
Posted: October 11th, 2011
Two Columbus organizations are the inaugural recipients of awards recognizing excellence in the preservation and interpretation of Mississippi history. The Department of Archives and History presented the Capers Award to the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library and the Carr Black Award to the Stephen D. Lee Home and Museum at a luncheon August 2 on the campus of Mississippi University for Women.
The Capers Award, which memorializes longtime MDAH director Charlotte Capers, recognizes smaller institutions or organizations whose mission is to acquire, preserve, and provide access to materials of enduring historical value. The Columbus-Lowndes Public Library was praised for outstanding archival achievement and a strong commitment to the preservation of local history. The library’s extensive outreach services include local workshops on preservation topics such as processing/preservation and preserving photographs through the Archival Training Collaborative, work to create an online collection through the Mississippi Digital Library, and the Local History Announcements blog. The library also partners with the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science on the annual “Tales from the Crypt” project.
The award was established in 2010 and will be presented biennially as merited. Recipients are selected by the board of trustees of the Department of Archives and History. The 2011 Capers Award carries a $300 cash prize.
The Mississippi Department of Archives and History is the second-oldest state department of archives and history in the United States. The department collects, preserves, and provides access to the archival resources of the state, administers various museums and historic sites, and oversees statewide programs for historic preservation, state and local government records management, and publications. The department is headquartered in the state-of-the-art William F. Winter Archives and History Building, located on the corner of North and Amite Streets in downtown Jackson. For more information call 601-576-6850 or see the MDAH Web site, www.mdah.state.ms.us.
(left to right): J. Kane Ditto, former mayor of Jackson and President of the Board of Trustees at MDAH; Mona K. Vance, Archivist at the Columbus-Lowndes Public Library; Carolyn Burns Kaye, Curator at the Stephen D. Lee Home and Museum; and Hank T. Holmes, Director of MDAH.
Submitted by
Mona K. Vance
Archivist, Local History Department
Columbus-Lowndes Public Library
Posted: October 11th, 2011
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