You may have heard the term “soft skills” tossed about when seeking a job or discussing careers, but what exactly does that mean? I was introduced to the concept when I was a college graduate applying for my first professional position. The job market was very competitive and it seemed to me a daunting task to stand out among a crowd of high achievers and polished resumes. In fact, my resume was just half a page, even padded with wide…
Trigger warning for suicide and mental health situations. When talking about diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, neurodivergency is a bit of an underdog. There are not always immediate visible indicators that a person is neurodivergent or autistic. Much as some chronic pain sufferers without visible handicaps are treated, being neurodivergent can trap a person in a world where everything feels wrong, but they are the only one who knows it. What is autism? It is not a disease; it is…
Learner engagement focuses heavily on the learner’s connection and sense of belonging at the university, which is typically fostered through relationships with other students, faculty, and staff. Engagement increases within learners when their encounters are respectful, trusting, supportive, and caring. Learners feel more confident and motivated when faculty and staff show support and care about their efforts. Conversely, when learners feel disconnected, they perceive those relationships with faculty, staff, and engaged learners as disrespectful, offering a sense of instability and…
As the Director of User and Research Services at Bell Library, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share some news from our team. First, the happy news! Alexa Hight, who is our Scholarly Communication and Copyright Librarian, was recently the winner of the Texas Digital Library (TDL) Service Award for her leadership of the OJS (Open Journal Systems) User Group. TDL uses Open Journal Systems software to allow faculty or staff of TDL member institutions to create open access…
While many residents of Corpus Christi are familiar with the German pioneer family of surveyors, the Blüchers, the famous family name also lived on in Germany simultaneously. The Blüchers had been landowners and nobility for hundreds of years when Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher was born in 1742, a little over 100 years before his kin would arrive on the unsettled Texas coast. Blücher would go on to match Paul von Hindenburg as the most highly decorated Prussian-German soldier in history.…
Today, I’m writing to tell you why I’m not a fan of the Journal Impact Factor (JIF). So first let me tell you what the JIF is and where it comes from. The Journal Impact factor is the number of citations generated by each citable item (such as an article) as calculated over a length of time. The standard time is three years and the number of citations in the current year divided by the number of citable items over…
April is such a wonderful month in the library world because it’s full of celebrations. From National Library Week to the early celebration of May’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month - there is plenty happening and so many great ways to get engaged! National Library Week Taking place April 3-9 this year, National Library week “is a time to celebrate our nation’s libraries, library workers’ contributions and promote library use and support” (ALA, 2013). The Mary and Jeff…
How do books come to you? Do you pick up books based on the recommendations of others? Do you stick to one genre? Do you wait for a sign or serendipitous encounter? We all know reading is good for us, but how do we find things we actually enjoy? Reading for pleasure might seem like a far-off dream right now, but whenever you need them, here are some creative ways I jump from book to book. Your favorite author likes…
A new semester means it’s time for acquiring new knowledge and making exciting discoveries - it also means ASSIGNMENTS! Assignments are more than just homework; they are an opportunity to put into practice what you learned and receive meaningful feedback from your instructors. Speaking of discoveries, did you know TAMU-CC students have various technologies to help with these assignments? In this blog post, Digital Learning and Academic Innovations would like to share some tips on how to make the most…
This year’s Open Access Week theme is “It Matters How We Open Knowledge: Building Structural Equity.” This theme was chosen in part to align with the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science, of which open access plays a key role. The Recommendation centers the importance of equity in the pursuit of an open future: Open Science should embrace a diversity of knowledge, practices, workflows, languages, research outputs and research topics that support the needs and epistemic pluralism of the scientific community…