Love is in the air! What kind of love am I talking about? Laser cutting love, of course! The laser engraver/ cutter is one of the many features in the I-Create Lab that can be used in a variety of creative ways. With the laser engraver/cutter, patrons and community users can cut natural wood, acrylic, glass, and even denim. The laser not only cuts but also engraves these materials. The photos below show examples of engravings and cuttings that took…
Happy Fair Use Week 2020! Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week 2020 takes place from Monday, February 24 through Friday, February 28. This week celebrates the importance of fair use in the United States and fair dealing in Canada and elsewhere. What is Fair Use? Glad you asked! Fair use is an exception to the rights of copyright holders which allow the public to make limited uses of copyrighted works. The statute can be defined a limited right to use copyrighted works…
When I moved from New York to Texas last year, I discovered that Texans are truly devoted to their state’s history. Perhaps then it’s no surprise that Texas repositories have banded together to offer a really cool way to research their state’s history: Texas Archival Resources Online. As we discussed in my last blog post, TARO is a website that gathers finding aids from institutions across Texas in one place. But why does it exist? How can you use it? And why…
Here at Bell Library we strive to offer excellent service and as part of that initiative we developed an award titled the Golden Pineapple Award. We came up with 12 themes to promote service excellence with-in the library and each month we take nominations of who best embodies that month’s ideal. We then put all the nominee’s names in a cup and draw a name. That person is awarded the “Golden Pineapple” that month. The golden pineapple is a 3-D…
On this day of love and romance, I offer an alternative means of celebrating. Don’t misunderstand, I respect the concept of love and those deep connections (why some need a special day to make a big deal out of these things, I’m not altogether sure - not cynical); but a number of years ago, I was introduced to a new way of celebrating Valentine’s Day. A friend of mine, who despite being in a stable and loving relationship, felt a…
You’re stuck in traffic, people are cutting you off, and you’re not sure if you will make it to campus on time. Cruising down the bike lane, you see a cyclist. Unimpeded by traffic, they whiz past you with ease. You’re left wondering, “Should I get out of this cage and start biking to the university?” Yes, yes you should. But why? Well, for starters, Cycling is a great way to cut the cost of gas, so say hasta la…
Gifted a Kindle for Christmas? Don’t want to send Amazon all your money? You should join the Houston Public Library! Houston Public Library supplies library cards to all Texas residents free of charge. So, if you call Texas home you have access to all of Houston Public’s e-book collections. Moreover, by using the Libby app, you can send checked-out e-books directly to your Kindle. There’s an easy online application. And if that doesn’t work (sometimes the webpage has trouble verifying…
The TAMU-CC Open Access Publication Fund was started as a way to support TAMU-CC Faculty and Researchers publish Open Access. (You may have seen Open Access mentioned recently in the news about the Coronavirus.) I mentioned this Fund in a blog post back in October, during Open Access Week. Now I’d like to tell you all a little bit more about the fund and the research the Bell Library has been able to support and help publish over the past few months. The goals of…