Yearly Archives: 2021

Read more about the article Open Education Week 2021: Open Educational Resources in the Age of COVID

Open Education Week 2021: Open Educational Resources in the Age of COVID

I’ve been talking for a while on this blog about open education and how it can lower costs for students while at the same time bring new, invigorating practices to the classroom. But when the pandemic hit last year, open educational resources (OER) became a solution to a problem that was now more urgent than ever before.   As a result of the pandemic, many students have been struggling financially. Access to physical books -- for example, reserves in the library which before the pandemic had been one strategy students could use to lower textbook costs -- were disrupted. Supply chains…

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Read more about the article The von Bluchers of Corpus Christi

The von Bluchers of Corpus Christi

In August of 2020 Bell Library, Special Collections and Archives was awarded funds made possible by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission’s Tex Treasures grant for fiscal year 2020-2021 (Grant # TXT-21011). The funds were to cover the employment of a graduate student to help process the Charles F.H. von Blucher Family papers. It is a rewarding experience to be organizing these papers. Working with Andrew Karnes, Graduate Assistant, we…

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Read more about the article Make It Sew!

Make It Sew!

Among all the impressive machinery located in the I-Create Lab, along with the laser cutters and large format printers, stands the unique piece known as the Embroidery Machine. The One Thread Embroidery Free Arm Machines allows its user to choose from a select number of built-in designs (405) to create a unique design to embroider into clothing, towels, or any material that will fit under the arm and into the hoop.The 7-inch LCD display screen allows the user to select…

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Read more about the article The Strength of the Spoken Word: Poetry in Our Popular Reading Collection
American poet Amanda Gorman reads a poem during the 59th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)

The Strength of the Spoken Word: Poetry in Our Popular Reading Collection

When day comes, we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid.The new dawn blooms as we free it.For there is always light,if only we’re brave enough to see it.If only we’re brave enough to be it. – “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman Stepping up to the microphone, Amanda Gorman, the nation’s first youth poet laureate, stood as a shining beacon of our future during the January 20th inauguration of President Joe Biden. She stirred the nation as she delivered…

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Read more about the article Career Research at Bell Library

Career Research at Bell Library

“Where do you want to be in five years?” Apart from being asked why you’re still single (it’s a choice, grandma!), perhaps nothing stokes the flames of anxiety like being asked where you see yourself in fives years. College students have plenty to worry about with classes, homework, extra curriculars, and jobs, and now folks are going to add this to the pile?? Well, yes. During college, while you’re maybe still trying to find a path that excites you, career research doesn’t…

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Read more about the article Comparing Journals – What’s the “use”?

Comparing Journals – What’s the “use”?

I was given an assignment this week—to list all the library’s subscriptions from a particular journal publisher, then rank them according to their priority for TAMU-CC. The library subscribes to more than 2,700 of this publisher’s journals. How would you go about determining the relative importance of each one?Obviously, your personal favorite journal should be at the top of the list, right? (Hang on, I’ll say more about that later.) But what about the rest?As it happens, librarians like to…

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Read more about the article Celebrated International Classics: African Literature, Mariama Bâ

Celebrated International Classics: African Literature, Mariama Bâ

Bienvenu! To the trained eye, you’ve already deciphered the romanticized language of French. Très bon! Sharing such aptitude, it is also my assumption that you’re well aware that French is the official/co-official language of twenty-nine countries worldwide. Included amongst the twenty-nine is the proud republic of Senegal located in western Africa. This country marks the next destination of our grand literature expedition across the world where we will revel in the literary arts by acclaimed author Mariama Bâ. Bâ (1929…

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Read more about the article The First Step: Celebrating Black History Month

The First Step: Celebrating Black History Month

Yesterday marked the first official day of Black History Month! This celebration, which began thanks to Carter G. Woodson’s Negro History Week in 1926, has been celebrated as a month-long event since 1976 (making this the 45th year)! Through the years this celebration has taken on a number of themes, including: The Crisis in Black Education, African Americans in Times of War, Black Migrations, African Americans and the Vote, and The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity (2021 theme). On the TAMUCC campus, however, our overarching focus…

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Read more about the article Welcome to the Archives

Welcome to the Archives

Many students complete their educational career without interacting with the archives, possibly without knowing they exists. Having studied psychology for the entirety of my six years in higher education, I have never had a reason to interact with or investigate the contents of the archives available to me until recently.After being accepted at TAMU-CC, I began applying to available Graduate Assistant jobs indiscriminately. When the archives staff contacted me, I had to pretend to remember applying for this particular position…

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Read more about the article A Look at 2019-2020

A Look at 2019-2020

I would like to welcome everyone to a brand-new year and the Spring 2021 semester! Every spring semester, pandemic or not, the Library is busy gathering and reporting data, which makes it a perfect time for reflection. The Academic Libraries Survey (ALS) portion of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and Academic Library Trends and Statistics Survey of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) are both due in the first quarter of the calendar year. In addition,…

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