The Collection
To assist faculty, staff and students with research needs, the University Libraries’ maintains a collection of over 2,000,000** volumes including books, computer software, microfilm, compact discs, videocassettes, DVDs, cassette tapes, kits, education films, filmstrips and slides. The Libraries journals and serials collection, consisting of both print and online journals, contains 57,007** journal/serial titles as either paid subscriptions, gifts or state/federal government documents. (This total includes print and electronic journal subscriptions.)
**Based on FY 2006/2007 data.
In recent years, the library began moving away from print-based journal subscriptions to online journal subscriptions due to the overwhelming popularity of online journals. Some of the publishers whose materials are now available in electronic format only include Elsevier, Wiley Interscience, Sage, ACM, Blackwell North America, to name a few.
The Library administration continues to allocate funding to academic departments for the purchase of monographic library materials. Librarians and teaching faculty work together on a departmental basis to purchase materials to fulfill their teaching and research needs. The librarians assist with the ordering process and assist in evaluating and assessing the collections as a whole.
The University Libraries serve as a selective depository for federal documents, collecting 95.27% of
all documents offered to depository libraries. This Collection has been augmented by the acquisition of selected publications of other public agencies, including the publications of state and territorial agricultural experiment stations, and forest research stations, Mississippi state documents, and the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA). In July 2001, the Library became a United Nations Depository, Mississippi’s first. The Library is now listed among nearly 400 other such depository libraries in 144 countries.
In June of 2000, Mississippi State University became a member of the 
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD). This membership resulted from a pilot project/partnership between the College of Engineering and the University Libraries. In 2007, the University’s Graduate council elected to require all colleges to submit theses and dissertations electronically. Once registered in the local ETD system, the documents will be made available in the NDLTD repository. For more information visit: the Office of Thesis and Dissertation Format Review.
Distinctive Research Oriented Collections of National Significance
Located on the first floor, the 
Congressional and Political Research Center, established in November 1999, is based on the premier collections of Senator John C. Stennis and Congressman G. V. "Sonny" Montgomery. The careers of these two individuals span a total of seventy-two years of service as Congressional leaders. The Papers within these two collections are invaluable to research and teaching and are recognized as such.
The Center provides research materials and information on individual U.S. Senators and Representatives, the U.S. Congress, and politics at all levels of government and has begun to take on a significant role on a state, regional and national level. The Libraries partnerships with the John C. Stennis Center for Public Service and the John C. Stennis Institute of Government have further enhanced the work of this Center, which produces newsletters, seminars and other programs to promote research and interest in government.
The resources of the Special Collections Department 
include materials of research value on the local, state, regional and national levels. Among the valuable documentation in University Archives are papers of the University’s presidents and other officers, college, division, and departmental records, faculty papers, records of committees and university related organizations. The Mississippiana Collection contains significant works about Mississippi and by Mississippi authors and a large rare book collection. The Manuscripts Division contains more than 575 collections of the papers of individuals, families and organizations and represents a diverse collection of primary materials to be used by students, faculty and other researchers for the production of papers, theses, dissertations, journal articles and other scholarly products.
MSU's manuscript collection is the largest collection of historical manuscripts in a university in Mississippi. These collections primarily document Mississippi and the South from the early 19th century to the present. Because the descendants of early settlers of Mississippi deposited many of the collections, the collection also contains much primary material on Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and other states of origin of these early settlers. More than one third of the collections contain Civil War materials such as diaries, letters, muster rolls and other original materials.
The Special Collections Department is also the repository for a number of significant journalism collections, which provide an excellent source of primary material on the history of Mississippi, the South, and the nation. The Collection runs the gamut from small collections of early journalists with little documentation of publishing activities, to larger comprehensive collections of Pulitzer Prize winners.
One of the libraries premier collections is that of MSU alumnus John Grisham who donated his papers to the university in 1989. Grisham’s collection of materials and papers, now consisting of over 42 cubic feet, has brought national attention to the Library. Materials from the Grisham Papers are on display in the Libraries’ John Grisham Room (3rd floor), opened in May of 1998. In addition to Grisham’s papers, the library continues to receive Grisham’s publications in every language in which they have been published.
In 2006, nationally known costume designer, Myrna Colley-Lee 
donated her research collection and working costume collection to Mississippi State University Libraries. The research collection consists of scripts, photographs, breakdowns (what each character wears in each scene), rehearsal notes from the director, research, playbills, newspaper articles, and thank-you notes from cast members and production crews, as well as other novelties. Colley-Lee, primarily known as a regional theatre costume designer, has designed for Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater Co., New York's Public Theater, Theater Virginia, the Black Rep in St. Louis, and Cleveland Playhouse and Off-Broadway She has designed the costumes for a play commissioned by Bill Cosby and contributed to Eugene O'Neill's video production of "Long Day's Journey Into Night," not to mention dressing the likes of actor Kevin Kline and singer Linda Ronstadt.
In partnership with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Veterinary Medicine, the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES) and the Mississippi State University Extension Service, the Library has recently implemented CHARM (Consortium for the History of Agricultural and Rural Mississippi).
The mission of this Consortium is to promote understanding and appreciation of the role played by agriculture, forestry and rural life in Mississippi’s past by collecting, preserving, and providing access to important historical materials in support of teaching, learning and research. Access to documents and artifacts that chronicle the history of agriculture, forestry, and rural life in Mississippi provides a rich resource for historians, scientists, and interested citizens. Mississippi State University's heritage as a land-grant institution uniquely qualifies the university to collect, preserve, and provide access to these important historical materials.
In 2000, the Charles H. Templeton Collection,
which includes over 200 nineteenth and twentieth century music instruments, 22,000 pieces of sheet music and 13,000 records, was transferred to the University Library. This Collection, valued at over $495,000 in 1989, serves as one of the premier collections donated to the Libraries in recent years. In 2001, a digitization project was established to digitize the entire sheet music collection in order to provide access to these wonderful primary resources. To date, over 4,000 pieces of music have been digitized, archived and cataloged.
In 2006, thanks to funding provided by the Charles H. Templeton family, the Library renovated an area to house the Templeton instrument collection and create the Charles H. Templeton, Sr. Music Museum. This beautifully appointed room now houses the majority of the music instruments from the Templeton collection. The instruments provide individuals and researchers the opportunity to see and hear these exquisite music instruments that date from the late 19th Century to the mid 20th Century. According to David A. Jasen, world renowned author and musicologist, the Templeton Collection “contains the most complete collection of Victor Talking Machines from the beginning in 1897 to 1930.”
Other Unique Initiatives
Morris W.H. “Bill” Collins Speakers Series
Sponsored by MSU Libraries, the John C. Stennis Institute of Government, the Congressional & Political Research Center, and the Stennis Montgomery Association, the Collins Speaker Series brings leading political, economic and governmental figures to Mississippi State’s campus. Our speakers “get up close and personal” with their audiences as they discuss their lives, careers and recent events.
John F. and Jeanne A. Marszalek Library Fund and Lecture Series
A generous gift from John and Jeanne Marszalek will help the libraries acquire materials related to the Civil War and Reconstruction, Jacksonian America, and race relations. Begun in 2003, the Marszalek lecture series encourages the use of primary source materials on these subjects and welcomes presentations of papers by university students and a lecture by an established, nationally known historian.
Charles Templeton Ragtime Music Festival
The Charles Templeton Ragtime Music Festival
is an annual festival that brings the sounds of ragtime past and present to Starkville. The Festival debuted in March 2007 and was the first of its kind in Mississippi. The multi-day event features seminars, tours of the Templeton Music Museum and numerous concerts by some of the world’s most renowned musicians. The festival will return March 27 and 28, 2008. For information about Festival events, please visit the festival website.
The Technology
Innovative Use of Technology The MSU Library continues to use and incorporate a variety of technologies into the library program. We contract with a variety of vendors to utilize their programs on behalf of the faculty/staff and students. SirsiDynix Corporation provides the Library Automation System and the Virtual Reference Service(DocuTek) , Serials Solutions provides the OpenURL resolver and federated search engine, OCLC provides the ILLiad (interlibrary loan) and ContentDM (digital media archive).
In addition to contracting with vendors to provide additional services, the Library Web Developers create tools and resources to automate library functions and services. Some of the tools created include:
Library Help Desk: Developed for the Systems department to manage and track incoming problems. This application is used by the Systems, Access Services, Instructional Media Center and the Stacks departments to track incoming “help” requests.
Boo (Book Orders Online)
: This resource was developed to provide University Faculty with a means of submitting book orders to the library. The system tracks the orders from the point of submission through the order process and keeps the faculty member abreast of the progress. It also tracks the budget for the department and informs the faculty how much they have left to spend.
MSU Authors
: The MSU Libraries proudly support the University's Faculty Authors by promoting their works through the MSU Faculty Authors Website. We strive to recognize the scholarship and research of MSU faculty members by listing their books and journals articles which were created while employed at MSU.
Often referred to as one of the best kept secrets, the Instructional Media Center (IMC) provides instruction and training in the innovative integration of information technology and learning for the university community including faculty, staff and students. The IMC provides professional consultation, a state-of-the art multimedia lab, and the environment essential for the integration of new technologies involved with teaching and research. The IMC multimedia lab, which is staffed by professionals and graduate students, provides computers equipped with a suite of multimedia and web development software including: Illustrator, Photoshop, QuarkXpress, Dreamweaver, Flash, PowerPoint and more. The lab contains negative and flatbed scanners, music composition stations and video and audio capturing capabilities. The IMC also offers high-end, color printing and laminating services for a small fee. While using the IMC, students and faculty can receive one-on-one assistance.
The IMC provides state-of-the-art presentation facilities (auditorium, presentation room, conference room) and equipment for checkout including: digital cameras, digital and VHS camcorders, data projectors, laptops, overhead projectors and slide projectors.
In addition to teaching open workshops for students and faculty on various multimedia/design applications, the IMC collaborates with University faculty to teach their classes how to effectively use these multimedia/design applications.
In order to streamline and facilitate access to theses and dissertations the library joined the National Digital Library Theses Dissertations and began requiring departments to submit theses and dissertations electronically. The library continues to use the electronic thesis and dissertation software (ETD) provided by Virginia Tech.
Leadership and External Contributions to the Profession
The Libraries hold membership in a number of associations and networks across the Southeast and the nation in an effort to expand the opportunities available to the MSU community. In addition to being members, the Libraries’ faculty and staff have made significant contributions to the profession and communities it serves by serving in leadership roles
MAGNOLIA, Mississippi Alliance for Gaining New Opportunities through Library Information Access, was established in June 1997 for the potential benefit of all publicly supported libraries, K-12, public, community colleges and university. MAGNOLIA provides access to Internet databases that include full-text and abstracted journals, newspapers, encyclopedias, almanacs, and other reference books on many subjects of general and specialized interest. Dean Frances Coleman has been Chair of the MAGNOLIA Steering Committee since its inception. The Technical Advisor and Chair of the Database Selection Committee for MAGNOLIA is Stephen Cunetto, MSU Libraries’ Administrator of Systems .
The Golden Triangle Regional Library Consortium (GTRLC) is a multi-type library consortium established in 1993 by the Mississippi State University Libraries to share automation costs and technical expertise through implementation of a common integrated library system. Each member library uses the SirsiDynix system for its circulation, cataloging, acquisitions and serials system. The online catalog, which displays the holdings of all members, and the reciprocal borrowing agreement among the members encourage resource sharing. The consortium has significantly increased the number of resources available to MSU students. Stephen Cunetto, MSU Libraries’ Administrator of Systems, manages the consortium.
Members include:
For the past seven years, the Libraries have hosted a NASIG Continuing Education Workshop focusing on the role and management of electronic resources in Libraries. Co-sponsored by organizations including the North American Serials Interest Group (NASIG), EBSCO Subscription Services, and MSU Libraries, this annual event provides a unique opportunity for information professionals working across the southeast to enhance their knowledge of electronic resources. The 2007 workshop attracted over one hundred attendees and featured four presentations from nationally recognized leaders in the field of electronic resource management in libraries.
MegaResource School Librarian Workshop Series, hosted and sponsored by the MSU Libraries, is designed for k-12 librarians needing continuing education. These workshops are generally geared toward technology and its application in the library environment. The series is held once a year at the MSU Library. Librarians attending the workshops can apply for CEU credit.
Library 2.0 Summit: The Library 2.0 Summit was a one-day intensive session on June 15, 2007 that provided practical take-home ideas and applications of Library 2.0 technologies for librarians and staff around the state and region. Our keynote speaker, nationally known Library 2.0 guru Michael Stephens, kicked off the day with an inspiring discussion on "Hyperlinked Library: Trends, Tools & Technologies," sharing how libraries are using these new technologies to bring resources to patrons, wherever they are and whenever they need them. The intent of the Summit was to introduce libraries from the region to Library 2.0 concepts and to encourage them to share their experiences with and uses of Library 2.0 technologies. Deemed a success, the Library will host the 2nd annual Summit in 2008.
Mitchell Memorial Library’s expansion and renovation project, completed in December 1996 at a cost of approximately $14.6 million, created a state-of-the-art facility equipped to take advantage of the latest developments in information technology. The renovation and expansion project blended the original 1950’s building with the 1970’s addition and the 1990’s addition. In addition to the normal facilities found in a comprehensive, research library, the Library was equipped during the 1990’s renovation with a 90-seat computer lab, an