Behind the Scenes – Page 5 – Mary and Jeff Bell Library Blog

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…

Welcome Back, Islanders: Reflections and Looking Forward to Spring 2020

Post author:Catherine Rudowsky
Post published:January 28, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes Dean's Corner Hello, from the Staff

Greetings everyone and welcome to a brand-new semester. The momentum and energy of our campus continue to thrive, and each new semester continues to promise new endeavors. Before jumping into what is new, I would like to take a minute to reflect on the Fall 2019 semester. The library is proud of several accomplishments, three of which I would like to highlight as representative of our vision and our future. First, the library has been heavily involved, along with many…

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe: Selecting Your Next Leisure Read

Post author:Trisha Hernandez
Post published:January 21, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes Books & More Library Hacks

Raise your hands, how many of you turn into a kid in a candy store when you walk into a bookstore? Now, how many of you believe the following statement to be true: “Despite the fact that I have a table, shelf, floor, etc., full of books I’ve purchased and have yet to read, I still need more?” My own hand is way up because I love books (so typical of a librarian, I know). As a matter of fact,…

What’s in a Name: Getting to Know Library Jargon

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:December 6, 2019
Post category:Behind the Scenes Library Hacks Service for You

We here in the library, like many other occupations, have specific jargon we use in our day-to-day work. We do realize this can be confusing and do our best to make things easy to understand. For example, we renamed the reference desk and now call it the Ask-Us Desk. However, some other areas or words are not so easily interchangeable. Below I’ll go over a few of those to try and help you out. Archives Archives at TAMU-CC refers to…

Student Employee Appreciation

Post author:Joe Hernandez
Post published:November 12, 2019
Post category:Behind the Scenes Hello, from the Staff

As I was thinking about something to write this blog about. I was having a really hard time thinking about something that would be both interesting and informative. Naturally, I was trying to bounce ideas off anyone who would listen. I approached the student workers in our department and they easily came up with a few ideas. However, while they were talking, I couldn’t help but realize how much I rely on our student employees. Then it occurred to me,…

Alston Cobourn takes count of the Hector P. Garcia archive collection in the special collections and archive storage room.

Some of The Lesser Known Collections held by TAMU-CC Special Collections and Archives

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:October 18, 2019
Post category:Behind the Scenes Service for You

We have wonderful resources here in the Special Collections and Archives Department at Bell Library. There are the Dr. Hector P. Garcia Papers, Dr. Clotilde P. Garcia Papers, the Dan E. Kilgore Collection, the wonderful Fuentes home films, the Blucher maps of surveyors of Corpus Christi back in the day, a photo collection from Doc McGregor and the Galvan family music collection. Besides these stellar, awesome collections, we have just as interesting and unique smaller collections that continue to tell the stories of Corpus Christi’s historical, cultural, and commercial development.…

Do Islanders still read books?

Post author:Derrik Hiatt
Post published:October 11, 2019
Post category:Behind the Scenes Books & More Service for You

The question In a recent librarians’ meeting, a question came up about the way the library buys books. The Bell Library, like many academic libraries, has traditionally purchased books through two main methods—title-by-title selection, and auto-shipments from a book vendor, based on a profile we set up with them. This second method, called an “approval plan,” would be sort of like setting up your Amazon account to automatically send you any new books that match your interests. The question that…

What is with all those library locations?

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:October 4, 2019
Post category:Behind the Scenes Library Hacks

You have your research topic all picked out (Good for you! I think that might be the hardest part). Your instructor says you have to use 3 physical resources in the library, so you’ve gone to the Library’s Quick Search, searched your topic, limited your search to just the “Library Catalog” (found under the “Refine Your Search” menu on the left side of the page) and now you’ve found the perfect source, but the location says… microfilm????? What even is that?…