We here at the Mary and Jeff Bell Library understand that life can be stressful. This is why we offer a variety of ways to help take the edge off of your tense day. We currently offer 38 games of different varieties that you and your friends can use inside the library. These games range from time honored board games like Monopoly and Candyland to games like trivia based on the TV show the Walking Dead. Below you will find…
Last Friday, the Dean of the Library, Cate Rudowsky, wrote a blog post discussing the upcoming Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP), information literacy, and why it’s all important. I’m going to dig a little bit deeper and talk about the actual concepts as they have been outlined in The Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education, the go-to resource on everything you need to know about information literacy, which for the sake of my typin’ fingers, I’m just going to refer to…
A QEP you say? Information and digital literacy you say? What the what? What’s a QEP? QEP is an acronym for Quality Enhancement Plan and is part of the SACSCOC reaffirmation process. According to SACSCOC, “the Quality Enhancement Plan is an integral component of the reaffirmation of accreditation process and is derived from an institution’s ongoing comprehensive planning and evaluation process. It reflects and affirms a commitment to enhance overall institutional quality and effectiveness by focusing on an issue that the institution considers important…
On March 5th, I joined three amazing women on stage during the morning panel of the Women’s History Month Celebration. Dr. Clarenda Phillips, Stacy Rowan, Erin Lewis, and I spoke to the audience about how we shaped our own destinies. Our words encouraged others to acknowledge and appreciate the path paved for us while paving the way for those coming after. The audience was encouraged to find a support unit who would stand beside them through thick and thin. It was…
Remember when? Remember when the Harbor Bridge was built? Hurricane Celia? The Buccaneer Days Parade? High school rivalries? Selena on the Domingo Show? Concerts at the Memorial Coliseum? The civil rights marches that changed our city? South Texas has a rich history and your memories can help us understand the important events and experiences that have shaped the region. Every family has a story and individually these memories make our community what it is, and some of those important memories…
You’re a liar…delusional...confused…insane! No one is EVER going to believe you! Ok, well not you per say (theoretically at least, I don’t really know you, so…), but this is a common accusation made in many of the best psychological thrillers available today. Take the box office success, The Girl on the Train, staring Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Luke Evans, and a bunch of other names that Wikipedia lists. The movie, based on the New York Times best seller by Paula Hawkins, follows Rachel Watson, an alcoholic divorcée who is…
After opening the I-Create Makerspace Lab in mid-January, we never would have guessed the flurry of activity that would occur around Valentine’s Day. In the days leading up to this romantic holiday, we had a nice surge of activity as makers of all disciplines made pilgrimages and many gifts were created! The 3D printers were busy printing red roses for loved ones. On the embroidery machine, there was a whole lotta monogramming going on, including one very cuddly looking fleece…
March 4-8 was Open Education Week, a week when we celebrate the power of the Internet to democratize education by providing a platform on which tools for learning—everything from videos and class modules to lecture notes and entire textbooks or courses—can be made freely available to anyone wanting to learn. In spite of the fact that we have the digital technology to provide learning materials at low to no cost and that many brilliant minds all over the world are engaged…
Why do we ask you to put the books back on the cart instead of re-shelving them yourself? This is an excellent question. You're thinking, "If I re-shelve it myself, it will be right where I need it tomorrow; or, it'll be available for the next person." You obviously know where you pulled it from. You can see the gap right there. Also, maybe you’re saving the staff from having to do the work of putting it back; so really,…
You're on your way to get your favorite focus food or drink from the vending machines in the Daily Read Café to keep your energy up for that research assignment that you're realizing you should have started a few days earlier. On the way, you weave through other students who you know are in the same boat as you, focused but stressed. When you turn the corner around the staircase, right before you see those doors that keep all the…