Behind the Scenes – Page 4 – Mary and Jeff Bell Library Blog

Creating a Conference: From Idea to Reality

Post author:Lisa Louis
Post published:July 28, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes We Made This

Ideas can be unpredictable. You never know where they might lead. This is the story of how an idea became a conference, and how the simple question “Why not?” set off a chain of events that, nine months later, has brought the libraries of the Texas A&M University System closer together and set the stage for future collaborations. TAMU-CC belongs to a large university system which includes 11 universities and eight state agencies. Each of those universities has at least…

Overcoming: COVID Ain’t Slowing Us Down

Post author:Catherine Rudowsky
Post published:July 21, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes Dean's Corner News @ Your Library Service for You

The Library, along with everyone else, found itself in new waters this past March when a pandemic came to our door. Stay at Home orders and a regard for everyone’s safety necessitated moving the classroom—along with all accompanying learning and academic support—online to ensure social distancing. We all hoped that this then new reality would be short-lived, yet it continues to evolve and change at a feverish pace. While going back to a pre-pandemic reality seems a distant dream, we strive, along…

Archival Silences

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:June 26, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes Today's Special

One of the reasons I love history is because I love a good story. History tells us the stories of individuals, families, groups, nations—stories that help us understand our own lives and our place in the world. Archives are often called “the raw stuff of history,” the voices out of which the historical narrative is woven. But some voices ring more loudly in the archives than others. The term archival silence describes a gap in the existing historical record. It is particularly…

Representation in Scholarly Communication

Post author:Alexa Hight
Post published:June 23, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes Library Randomness Today's Special

Recently, there has been much discussion around the Black Lives Matter movement, systemic racism in the United States and around the world, and other issues related to race and representation. Just the other day, a scholarly communication blog I follow posted about researchers exploring issues around race. As a scholarly communication librarian, I have been reading not only on research around race, but about representation in research and publishing. Questions such as “who is doing the research?” and “who is being…

I-Create Lab Working to Supply Face Shields

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:May 15, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes News @ Your Library Tech in the Library We Made This

Within the last two months, a lot has changed around the university and the world. Despite the changes, the I-Create MakerSpace Supervisors and Library Staff are hard at work to make a difference for those in need during this Pandemic. Sylvia Sanchez, MakerSpace Coordinator, and David Jones, MakerSpace Technician, have been spending their time, along with volunteers and library staff, at the closed I-Create Lab to utilize one of the labs' favorite pieces of equipment, the laser cutter. The laser…

Coming Together By Sharing Knowledge

Post author:Diana Gaona
Post published:May 12, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes

A team shout-out to Administration, Research and Learning, Library Technology Services, and RM&D for preparing us to work remotely during the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. By attending the training sessions offered by my colleagues, I learned to navigate and familiarize myself with Cisco Jabber and the features it offers. WebEx, another tool we use for video conferencing, has allowed me to collaborate in an online environment. The quick tips and tricks I learned helped me smoothly and seamlessly transition from working together…

I-Create Student Worker Spotlight: Skally

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:March 20, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes Hello, from the Staff Service for You Things to Do We Made This

While the I-Create lab is full of neat gadgets and gizmos, it is nothing without our student workers. This month we are spotlighting one of our student workers, Skally Benitez. Skally has worked in the I-Create Lab for nearly a year and is a Senior here at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. She is working on her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA). Skally received her Associates in Arts from South Texas College in 2018. Her focus in art is traditional art;…

Q&A with a Library Student Assistant & Graduate Assistant

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:March 6, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes Hello, from the Staff

As the Student Coordinator for Access Services, prospective employees often have questions about the Student/Graduate Assistant positions we offer. I figured I’d take the time to interview a current Student/Graduate Assistant so that they can provide some insight about their positions here with Access Services. For this interview, I interviewed Alexandra (Lexy) Tomes (Student Assistant) and Kevin Wong (Graduate Assistant). Can you describe your position and what it entails? AT: I am a student worker at the Circulation Desk in the…

Open Education Week 2020 – Getting Involved!

Post author:Lisa Louis
Post published:March 3, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes News @ Your Library Things to Do

Over the years, open education – the use of free, openly-licensed educational materials and the teaching practices that have developed around them -- has continued to grow in impact and importance. Last February, OpenStax, a publisher of open textbooks based at Rice University, reported that free OpenStax textbooks had saved students $177 million dollars in 2018. In North Dakota, the state auditor’s office reported that a statewide OER initiative had resulted in savings of over $1 million for students. Also in 2018,…

And the Winner Is…: Service Excellence Awards in the Library

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:February 18, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes Library Randomness

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…