What is in a Picture?

What is in a picture? Clearly, this seems like a straightforward answer. When you look at the picture it is apparent what is captured, but is it really? Pictures capture the lived experience, something that the written record cannot grasp. Images show the lived life, it gives a new layer of historical research. While photographs certainly can cover the basics of people, events, and places, they also add a visual layer. The modern researcher can see these things as they…

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A Place I Belong

“Country roads, take me home to the place I belong.” – Take Me Home, Country Roads, John Denver, 1971 While the all too popular song, written by Bill Danoff, Taffy Nivert, and John Denver, began as a little ballad about the winding country roads in Maryland, it has since become a meme (see singing cowboy cat) and a song one just can’t help but jump in and sing along with. Whether it’s the smooth vocals or the opportunity to passionately…

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Tales from the I-Create Lab

When you walk into the I-Create lab, you might notice a variety of strange and wonderous items adorning the walls of the makerspace. Nearly all these items were handcrafted by the various workers of the lab, meaning that each of these objects carries a story behind it. Some of these stories are funny, others are frightening, but each is assuredly interesting. Three of these stories will be discussed in “Tales from the I-Create Lab.” The Shark Shark week has been…

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A Time for Celebration: Public Art

One of the joys of working in a college library is keeping in sync with the academic calendar. There are some pretty cool events, exhibits, and celebrations to look forward to. It is inspiring and energizing to engage new students in library traditions every year. Being a part of the discovery of our banned books celebration and the riotous fun of Escaping the Library during International Games Week – it truly is great fun! Being in a college library filled with art…

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What does a librarian do?

When you start looking towards the future and digging into career exploration, a great way to get to know a job or profession is to ask someone what their day is like. Do they work in an office or do they travel a lot? Do they meet with people face-to-face or can parts of the job be done remotely? Is it a day filled with meetings or a day filled with solo design and problem solving? If you know what…

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Blucher Family Stories

There were not a lot of reasons to celebrate in 2020 (except maybe on New Year’s Eve), but the Special Collections & Archives Department at the Mary and Jeff Bell Library got one extraordinary piece of good news as Autumn approached: We were awarded a $25,000 grant to process our Charles F. H. von Blucher Family Papers collection. With our graduate assistant Andrew Karnes working exclusively on processing this priceless collection of three generations of Blucher family papers, many previously…

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Lego Wall at the I-Create Lab

The I-Create Lab has continued to find new ways to keep the creative flow in the lab. Since COVID restrictions, the lab has had to close study rooms, limit people in the lab, and halted the use of some equipment such as the Oculus rift. The lab knows this is all in protection for itself and its patrons. However, like most people, the staff and many of our patrons miss the time before COVID. To keep the creativity in the…

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A Portal to Corpus Christi and Beyond

An access point. A touch stone. A portal. This is what a library is; it’s a place of accessibility. When people come to a library, they expect to find a place where they can reach resources and multi-media that will allow them to learn, to educate, to create, to grow, to entertain, and to expand their imaginations.  At the Mary and Jeff Bell Library, this is an ever evolving and continual process to improving accessibility. A huge part of this…

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What do you miss?

Restrictions are starting to ease – for better or worse. Vaccines are on the rise – thank goodness! I don’t often focus on what I’m missing. I’m not really hoping for a “return to normal” I’m not sure I know what that would look like anymore. For some people it’s hanging out with a group of friends or attending big family gatherings – others miss movie theaters and the energy of live music. For the most part, I’ve been incredibly…

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I-Create Student Worker Spotlight: Alex Esquivel

At I-Create, our student workers are immensely talented and creative. For this month’s spotlight, we would like to shine a light on one such student, Alex Esquivel. Alex hails from the small town of Eagle Lake, Texas. He began his education at a junior college, before catching word of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Upon reviewing the TAMU-CC fine arts program, Alex decided that the Island University was the institution for him. After he began attending TAMU-CC, Alex became drawn to…

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