• Spring 2024 Message from the Dean school Dean's Communication

  March 04, 2024

  Welcome! I hope the spring break provided a good opportunity for some rest and relaxation amid a busy semester. The MSU Libraries has also seen a lively term, and as we look ahead I wanted to take a moment to share some important updates.Spring semester hours. Regular hours following spring break resumed Monday, March 4. The MSU Libraries is typically open 24 hours per day on Monday through Thursday, with later opening and earlier closing times on the weekends. Regular hours will shift beginning with the last class day of the spring semester on Friday, April 26, as we head into our shortened summer hours. Please note that for safety and security purposes, all students, staff and faculty are required to scan their MSU ID to access the MSU Main Library building between 10:00 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. on Sunday – Thursday. A complete schedule for the Main Library hours is available here.MSU Press director appointment. In October Elizabeth Demers was appointed director of the MSU Press. Demers comes to MSU from the University of Michigan Press, where she was hired as editorial director in 2017. She also previously held positions at Johns Hopkins University Press, Quarto Publishing and Potomac Books. Demers received undergraduate degrees in English and French from MSU as well as a master’s in comparative literature. She also earned a doctorate in history at MSU. In addition to her education at MSU, she obtained a Master of Business Administration at the University of Maryland. Demers has expressed enthusiasm about the opportunity to lead MSU Press, noting that she is “thrilled to be a part of MSU Press’s tradition of outstanding scholarship and community engagement.”Harmful Language Remediation Group. The Harmful Language Remediation Working Group (HLRWG) at MSU Libraries formed in fall 2022 with the goal of identifying, assessing and responding to harmful language issues in the MSU Libraries’ descriptive metadata. The primary role of the HLRWG is to facilitate and track harmful language remediation projects across the MSU Libraries. The group has recently developed a publicly available form that can be used to report instances of potentially harmful language in the MSU Libraries catalog. This form is available here.Building construction. In August 2022 the Libraries began working in partnership with brightspot strategy to reimagine our spaces and services to be more responsive to current and future needs of our faculty, staff and students. Several phases have already been completed while others have seen significant progress. Our new MSU Libraries Starbucks opened at the beginning of the spring semester, with updated seating in the café area as well as an option for mobile ordering, and the reconfiguration of 2-West is now also complete and home to the MSU Center for Teaching and Learning Innovation and the Office of Faculty and Academic Staff Development. Construction on 3-East to relocate our Stephen O. Murray and Keelung Hong Special Collections is progressing with plans to install shelving in April; this project phase is expected to continue into Fall 2024. Ongoing updates are available on our website at lib.msu.edu.We are looking forward to supporting your learning and research needs as we approach the end of the spring semester (and beyond!). As a reminder, if you are unable to find an answer on our website or would like to speak to someone in person, we are available at our information desks as well as by phone at (517) 353-8700.With warm wishes for a productive semester,Neil Romanosky, Ph.D. Dean of LibrariesView All News Articles

  
• MSU Libraries’ textbooks and course materials programs offer variety of no-cost, low-cost options for classroom resources

  August 20, 2024

  Elise Jajuga

  EAST LANSING, Mich., Aug. 2024 – The start of the semester can bring a variety of stressors, but one that Michigan State University Libraries is helping to mitigate is the high cost of course materials for both students and faculty.For the last several years, the MSU Libraries have offered an increasing number of classroom resources to students enrolled in courses at MSU at low or no cost. Both electronic and print materials are available to students through the Course Reserves program. Course reserves are textbooks put on hold at the MSU Libraries by professors, allowing students to borrow or share classroom resources rather than having to purchase them. The Libraries also makes a concerted effort to identify and purchase required materials that are utilized by MSU classes from its collections funds. A recent significant collections acquisition was the Libraries’ subscription to Cambridge University Press’ electronic textbook package, which provides access to over 1,000 Cambridge textbooks. While the Libraries selects electronic formats whenever available, print materials can be found at the Main Library or William C. Gast Business Library. Last year the Libraries offered over 2,600 books for more than 1,015 classes at MSU through Course Reserves. More than half of these titles were provided electronically. MSU Veterinary Nursing Program Director Taylor Epp cited the impact of these low-cost options for students in the College of Veterinary Medicine.“As a medical professional program, the textbooks required for our courses can be quite pricey,” Taylor said. “Having the textbooks placed on reserves in the MSU Libraries is a wonderful way for students to gain access to a course textbook without having to purchase the textbook themselves.”   Students and faculty can also find several cost-effective course materials outlets through the MSU Libraries’ Open Education Resources Program. Open education resources (OER) include teaching, learning and research materials that live copyright-free in the public domain or have been released under an open license that allows for reusing, revising, remixing, retaining and redistributing them. The Libraries’ OER Program, which was implemented in 2019, aims to reduce educational costs by providing free or low-cost learning materials; encouraging and supporting the adoption, adaptation and creation of OER and other free and low-cost materials such as textbook alternatives; providing multidimensional support for instructors to implement OER in coursework; and empowering instructors to engage in new pedagogical models made possible by OER and the open education approach. In 2022-23, the OER program had an estimated $1,507,600 in cost savings for 15,076 students enrolled in OER courses, with 126 participating instructors. MSU Libraries also offers an OER Award Program for instructors interested in adopting, adapting or creating OER that provides financial, technical and other types of project support. Applications for the 2024-25 OER awards will be open from Sept. 3 to Oct. 11, 2024. The call for applications and application forms will be available on the Libraries’ Online OER Guide after Sept. 3.The MSU Libraries’ Course Materials Program is another low-cost course pack alternative to resources like textbooks. All materials sold to students are produced at cost on a nonprofit basis. Course packs are available in both printed and electronic format and sold through partnering bookstores and MSU’s D2L platform. This program also provides faculty with research, referrals, and production support for course packs, online library resources and contacts within the Libraries. MSU College of Nursing Senior Instructor Kathy Forrest spoke about the support that Libraries liaisons like Health Sciences Librarian Jessica Sender can provide through these types of initiatives.“I have worked with Jessica Sender in her role as library liaison in the College of Nursing since 2016,” Forrest said. “As a faculty member, she is my first contact when preparing a course for the next semester. She is quick to provide updates to the library folder in D2L to assist students with resources, literature search tips and exemplars for APA formatting. When developing new courses or making major course revisions I have contacted her to assist with textbook suggestions, student resources and library materials specific to the course’s content and outcomes. Jessica is a highly knowledgeable library liaison and a consummate professional, advocating for nursing students and faculty. I couldn’t ask for a better faculty partner to educate nursing students for the future.”To learn more about the MSU Libraries’ textbook and course materials programs offering, please visit the Textbooks Programs & Information page.View All News Articles

  
• MSU Libraries begins Special Collections move, puts select services on hold

  August 01, 2024

  Elise Jajuga

  This month the MSU Libraries Stephen O. Murray & Keelung Hong Special Collections will begin the process of relocating to the third floor of the Main Library’s East Wing. To accommodate this move, which includes hundreds of thousands of delicate and valuable materials, the Libraries will also need to put several services on pause. Access to our Special Collections will be closed for about 16 weeks beginning mid-August, which especially impacts faculty who use these materials for research and classes that use these materials for instruction.Beginning Monday, Aug. 12:The MSU Libraries’ Reading Room will be closed.Special Collections instruction and programming will be put on hold.Special Collections material will be unavailable.The Main Library’s 3-East is also undergoing renovations to have climate control and a fire suppression system installed to protect our valuable collection materials. Currently located in the basement of the Main Library, the Special Collections holds over 500,000 printed works, numerous manuscript and archival collections, and an extensive collection of ephemera. The relocation will also provide the opportunity for Special Collections staff to more closely collaborate, as it will be the first time the unit is co-located, enabling further work together. Contact: Leslie McRoberts View All News Articles

  

View all News Articles