News

Mark Cole, author of The Nine Realms trilogy, spoke to Brandon High School students during National Library Week.  He also shared with the Creative Writing classes a little about the writing process.  One lucky student received a set of the trilogy.

Photography by  Susan Lott

Mark Cole with Brandon High School students

Submitted by

Susan Lott

Library Media Specialist

Brandon High School

Mississippi State University Libraries is announcing an exhibition of works by noted 19th-century sculptor John Rogers. Titled "John Rogers: The People's Sculptor," the exhibit includes 16 sculpture groups on display as part of the Frank and Virginia Williams Collection of Lincolniana housed at Mitchell Memorial Library. The gallery is located within the fourth-floor Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library and is available Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1829, Rogers was an American artist whose sculptures largely depict the conventional lives of ordinary people. His works encompass subjects such as Civil War soldiers, the horrors of slavery, historical figures and literary themes, all of which are intended to evoke feelings of shared experience and nostalgia. Over the course of his career, Rogers sculpted roughly 80 distinct statuary groups. These were mass-produced for commercial sale and were most often cast in plaster. Rogers sold most of his statues for around $14 (approx. $425 in today's money), which made them affordable and accessible to middle-class Americans. These works became so popular in the latter half of the 19th century that Rogers was often referred to as "the people's sculptor." By the end of his career, he sold an estimated 80,000 copies of his works, which amounted to $1 million in statuary.

Some of the most popular works on display in the Williams Collection of Lincolniana Gallery are "The Wounded Scout," which depicts a wounded Union soldier being helped through a southern swamp by a runaway enslaved man, and two variations of "The Council of War" which depict President Abraham Lincoln, General Ulysses S. Grant, and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton discussing military strategy. 

For more information, contact Ryan Semmes, associate professor with MSU Libraries, at 662-325-9355 or rsemmes@library.msstate.edu. MSU is Mississippi's leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.

Submitted by

Stephen Cunetto

Associate Dean, University Libraries

Mississippi State University

Mississippi State University Libraries is launching a new digital collection of Citizens' Council Radio Forum recordings, along with corresponding transcripts.

MSU Libraries produces, preserves and provides access to digital collections that support teaching, service and research by providing greater access to rare holdings. These include sheet music, diaries, correspondence, ledgers, photographs, transcripts, publications and other materials, all through the MSU Libraries' Digital Collections.

A $25,000 digitization grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources' Recordings at Risk program provided funds for 269 original Citizens' Council Forum shows to be preserved and made available online.

The audio recordings are accompanied by transcripts, provided by MSU doctoral graduate and Millsaps College Associate Professor of History Stephanie Rolph, who transcribed the Forum recordings as part of her dissertation and donated them to MSU Special Collections upon completion of her research. Rolph also published a book on the Citizens' Council last year titled "Resisting Equality: The Citizens' Council, 1954-1989" (LSU Press).

MSU Libraries is a destination for researchers studying Civil Rights and the Jim Crow era, of which the Citizens' Council played a powerful role. The recordings span 1957-1966 and cover a variety of topics, including the Supreme Court, education, the Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts, and communism.

According to University Archivist Jessica Perkins Smith, who wrote the CLIR grant and has worked extensively with the collection, "Researchers have used the transcripts of the Forum recordings frequently over the years. The tapes themselves were in danger of being lost due to their age and condition. Digitizing the recordings provides the benefit of long-term preservation, but also gives researchers a chance to hear the voices of segregationist politicians and Citizens' Council leaders. We are pleased to be able to increase accessibility of our collections to patrons who may not be able to travel to Mississippi State."

For more information, contact Perkins Smith at jsmith@library.msstate.edu. To access the collection, visit http://lib.msstate.edu/digitalcollections/citizenscouncil/

Submitted by 

Stephen Cunetto

Associate Dean, University Libraries

Mississippi State University

Please consider submitting a proposal for a session at this year’s MLA Conference to be held Oct 22-25^th at the Westin Hotel in downtown Jackson.  The theme for the conference is Libraries:  Educating, Cultivating and Inspiring!  If you have been doing some great things that educate, cultivate or inspire, we hope you will consider sharing your innovative work with other librarians by submitting a proposal to present at this year’s conference.

The MSU Libraries will host its annual Charles Templeton Ragtime & Jazz Festival and the Gatsby Gala March 28-30, 2019.  The Festival features pianist Martin Spitznagel, Larisa Migachyov, multi-instrumentalist Dave Bennett and drummer Ha Smith.  This year’s festival will feature a salute to Benny Goodman and Jerry Lee Lewis.  The Gatsby Gala, a 1920’s fashion show, features 1920’s inspired dresses designed by the Fashion Design and Merchandising students.  The mission of the Templeton Festival is to provide another educational and artistic opportunity for the citizens of Starkville, Oktibbeha county and the surrounding counties. The Festival endeavors to educate audiences on these early forms of music from ragtime to blues, jazz, stride, and more.  For more information visit http://library.msstate.edu/festival

Submitted by

Stephen Cunetto

Associate Dean, University Libraries

Mississippi State University

The Jackson-George Regional Library System held the 32nd Annual Volunteer Awards Reception at the Pascagoula Public Library on Tuesday, February 13. The theme was “Volunteers Love Our Libraries” with over 110 in attendance.

Along with a luncheon, the volunteers attending from the nine branch libraries received a certificate recognizing their service and a chance for door prizes. The guest speaker for the event was Mississippi Library Commission Executive Director Hulen Bivins.  

Awards were presented to the following: Rita Krebs Genealogy Volunteer of the Year was given to MS Digital Library for their assistance in helping digitize collections for the genealogy library; the Mary Ann Louviere Youth Services Volunteer of the Year was presented to Aric Wirtz from the Ocean Springs Library with 181 hours of service.  The Flora S. Scholtes Volunteer of the Year was presented to Estelle Nettles from the Moss Point Library with 290 hours of service.

The Friends of the Pascagoula Public Library won the Friends of the Library 2019 award which was presented by Library Director Lori Barnes.  This award is given for outstanding support for Friends projects, program sponsorships, fundraising efforts, and membership drives for the library.

“Volunteers donated nearly 8,000 hours of service to the library system for 2018 and is the equivalent of more than four full-time employees,” said library director Lori Barnes. “We couldn’t do all we do without them,” she said.

See photos on the library Facebook page - JacksonGeorgeLibrary or visit the library website at www.jgrls.org for more information about Friends groups and locations.

Photographs by Rex Bridges

Submitted by

Rex Bridges

Public Relations & Marketing Manager

Jackson-George Library System

Janice Vaughn, Branch Manager at the Jesse Yancy Memorial Library in Bruce, was interviewed by Rylie Livingston of WCBI News. 

Link to the interview: Public Libraries Are Having To Make Sacrifices

Photograph by Janice Vaughn

Rylie Livingston (right) with WCBI intern

Submitted by

Janice Vaughn

Branch Manager

Jesse Yancy Memorial Library

The Pike-Amite-Walthall Library System recently held their first annual Mad Hatter Tea Party the week of December 10, 2018 in the headquarters library in McComb and two of their branch libraries.  With over 65 children and adults attending, the tea was a huge success!  Everyone was encouraged to dress in character and finger foods were served at the events.  At the McComb branch, there were three different activities set up for the children.  There was a face painting table, a craft table, where they were encouraged to make their own Mad Hatter top-hat, and a photo booth.  Miss Mattie entertained the children with music and singing, and the story of “Alice in Wonderland” was read by the children’s activities director, Laura Stokes.

Photographs by Laura Stokes.  

Submitted by 

Laura Stokes

Children's Activities Director

Pike-Amite-Walthall Library System

Carol Green has been named Interim Head of Technical Services at The University of Southern Mississippi Libraries.

Bonnie Thornton joined Mississippi State University Libraries in December in the Assistant Professor/Continuing Resources position. This position is her first professional librarian role and focuses on the management of the print serials collection and other duties as assigned. Bonnie graduated with her MSLIS from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she worked as a graduate assistant in the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library providing reference and instruction services. She also worked as a copy cataloger at their large density storage facility. Prior to her time at Illinois, she earned her B.A. in History and Spanish at Augustana College, with a focus on public history and Colonial Spain. She’s glad to have escaped the Midwest with her cats before the snow could bury her.  

Teri M. Robinson joined the faculty of Mississippi State University as an Assistant Professor/Coordinator of Office of Thesis and Dissertation Format Review. Previously, she was the supervisor for records and transcripts in the Registrar’s Office at the University of Southern Mississippi. In 2018, Teri earned her MLIS and a Graduate Certificate in Archives and Special Collections from The University of Southern Mississippi. She received her BA in Anthropology from the University of Alabama.

Rebecca (Becky) Bickford is now Assistant Professor/Social Sciences Librarian in the Research Services department of the Mississippi State University Libraries. Becky joined MSU in late 2017 as a Library Associate in Research Services. Becky graduated in 2006 from the University of West Georgia with a BS in Early Childhood Education. Becky obtained her MLIS from The University of Southern Mississippi in 2016. Upon completion of her MLIS, she worked as the Information Services Librarian at South Georgia State College in Douglas, Georgia.

Stephen Cunetto, the Associate Dean for University Libraries at Mississippi State University, was recently appointed to the MLC Board of Commissioners by Governor Phil Bryant. He earned his B.S. in Communication at Mississippi State University and his Masters in Library and Information Science at The University of Southern Mississippi in 2006. As the Associate Dean, he provides strategic direction, oversight, and maintenance of the Libraries' technological infrastructure and technology services, ensuring tight integration of all digital and online services, as well as assists in the overall management and strategic operation of the University Libraries.