August 2019 – Mary and Jeff Bell Library Blog

100 Years After the Storm

Post author:Amanda Kowalski
Post published:August 30, 2019
Post category:Things to Do Today's Special

While Hurricane Harvey is still fresh in everyone’s memories, this is not the only storm to leave an impact on Corpus Christi. Hurricanes have marked Corpus Christi’s history and culture. Each storm impacted the city and changed its landscape. The engineering of downtown revolves around the impact of hurricanes. In the late 1800s many hurricanes molded Texas. A storm leveled Indianola in 1875 and again in 1886. After these twin storms the settlement disperse instead of rebuilding on the coast.…

Bell Library reflects on last year and looks forward to next year…

Post author:Catherine Rudowsky
Post published:August 27, 2019
Post category:Dean's Corner Hello, from the Staff Service for You Tech in the Library

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone to the 2019/20 academic year! The University and the Library have been up to great things, and the excitement is contagious. Bell Library is coming off a year of great change, which included the following projects, among other work. Bell Library opened the I-Create makerspace lab, which we will continue to develop and grow.Be sure to keep an eye out for workshop announcements and opportunities to be involved in collaborative innovative…

Living Our Best Lives One Book at a Time

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:August 20, 2019
Post category:Books & More

Maybe you have heard this one before…books are the gateway to learning and knowledge. Ultra-successful people are the perfect example of this. Warren Buffett believes the key to success is reading. Bill Gates reads about 50 books a year. Elon Musk says he learned to build rockets by reading books. Books can not only help us gain knowledge about our field of study, but, and maybe equally important, they can also be a gateway to improving ourselves. Many different types of books…

What do you do with those extra books?

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:August 13, 2019
Post category:Books & More Library Hacks

Have you ever started doing a spring or summer or fall or winter or some other time cleaning and come across books you haven’t seen or used in years? Have you ever wondered what to do with books you no longer want or need? Believe it or not, there are several wonderful options available for these books if they are in good condition, i.e. all the pages are there and readable, no mold or mildew, and the binding is…

Instruction Junction, what’s your function? What library instruction can do for you

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:August 9, 2019
Post category:Service for You

Hey Faculty Friends! Have you ever seen a big group of students leaving a library computer lab and thought to yourself, “I wonder where all of those intelligent, curious, beautiful people came from?” The answer, my friend, is library instruction. Usually when people think of library instruction they think of a 50-minute class session during which a librarian demonstrates how to use certain databases or the library catalog. While there’s not really anything wrong with this image, it’s not exactly…

Why We Cancelled Lexis-Nexis (and How We Made the Decision)

Post author:Lisa Louis
Post published:August 6, 2019
Post category:Behind the Scenes News @ Your Library

This summer, Bell Library was faced with a choice. The database Lexis-Nexis, long a mainstay among library online resources, was coming up for renewal. We could have just renewed it automatically. Lexis Nexis seems foundational. Essential, even. But some concerns brought us up short. Usage was way down over previous years. The price has gone up over the same time span. And there were some problems with the contract that the company wanted us to sign. The TAMU system has…

Access Services: Prospective Student Assistant FAQ

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:August 2, 2019
Post category:Behind the Scenes

As the Student Coordinator for Access Services (or as many know it as the Circulation Desk), I typically work with 12–13 students assistants every semester. Throughout the semester, a student assistant may need to resign, and it is up to me to fill this position. So, has it ever crossed your mind what one (or myself) looks for in a student employee? What qualities should one have?What experience should one have? If you are one who has wondered about these…