Hello, from the Staff – Page 2 – Mary and Jeff Bell Library Blog

Red Flags: How to Identify Predatory Publishing

Post author:Alexa Hight
Post published:March 15, 2022
Post category:Books & More Hello, from the Staff Library Hacks

What is predatory publishing? The term “predatory publishing” refers to an exploitative academic publishing business model that involves charging publication fees to authors without checking articles for quality and legitimacy, and without providing editorial and publishing services that legitimate academic journals provide, whether open access or not. If you are unfamiliar with the term “open access,” you can read about it in another blog post, but a quick definition of one model of open access, is that instead of having…

Why Are You Here?

Post author:Abel Cantu
Post published:February 15, 2022
Post category:Hello, from the Staff

I have posed this question to our student workers for years, it is not a difficult question, it is not a trick question, and I still receive glazed looks of confusion. Possibly, this question is too easy. Or maybe they feel that it should be common knowledge why people attend college, and everyone should know the answer to that question. That could explain why I have seen the “duh” expression from some of our student workers over the years. For…

How to: Heart Shaped Pillow

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:February 8, 2022
Post category:Hello, from the Staff Things to Do We Made This

Valentine’s Day is here! Many may disagree but Valentine is my favorite holiday with the hearts, crazy cards, and colors are so fun! No matter who you are spending it with or if it's a day full of self-care we at the I-Create lab want you to have an amazing Valentine's Day! I will be showing how to create a heart-shaped pillow perfect for every day and a very cute Valentine's gift! The best part is you can create this…

The Blucher Collection: A Worldwide Research Puzzle

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:December 21, 2021
Post category:Behind the Scenes Hello, from the Staff

The Blucher collection includes papers from an early Texas family who was instrumental in the development of the Coastal Bend area. The Bluchers arrived in the mid 1800’s, saving their correspondence, legal paperwork, photos, and artifacts from their arrival until the late 1900’s. A prominent member of the family, Conrad Blucher, eventually left a sizeable endowment to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. While processing the Blucher collection, I have been able to experience history through the eyes of others through their writing,…

Prepare for the Cold Weather

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:November 9, 2021
Post category:Hello, from the Staff Things to Do

As many of you can feel the cool winds we’ve had, there is an ominous and inevitable truth following this delightful weather. The cold weather is coming. I would say the tagline from that one HBO show, but I can’t remember the tag line or the name of the show, Game of Chairs? Conflict of Thrones? Either way, that cold weather is soon to come a knocking, and it would be a great idea to start preparing our homes for…

Snakes! & The Bluchers

Post author:Eric Christensen
Post published:October 19, 2021
Post category:Behind the Scenes Hello, from the Staff

Corpus Christi is home to an incredible diversity of flora and fauna, and the region is the preferred habitat of many species of snakes. Several of the local snakes are venomous, such as rattlesnakes, coral snakes, cottonmouths, and copperheads. As such it is always advisable to be aware of your surroundings as you walk the TAMUCC Hike & Bike Trail, or any of the local parks. The following recollection of pioneer snake encounters was recently discovered in the Mary and…

A New Vision for Innovation: I-Create Gets New Management

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:October 12, 2021
Post category:Behind the Scenes Hello, from the Staff News @ Your Library

Through our transition into our new normal, TAMU-CC leaders saw a vital need for more digital resources for teaching and learning. With that, some changes were implemented to ensure that the services we offer to the campus community continue to foster an environment that supports innovation in digital teaching and learning, as well as a quality digital experience for students and faculty. A new partnership between Digital Learning and Academic Innovations (DLAI) and the I-Create lab was introduced to the…

Asian American & Pacific Islander Month Continuation

Post author:Risha Dulip
Post published:May 4, 2021
Post category:Hello, from the Staff Library Randomness

As posted last week by my colleague Trisha Hernandez, May is the commemorative month to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage. May was chosen as the commemorative month because the first Japanese immigrant arrived in the U.S. on May 7, 1843, and it marks the completion of the transcontinental railroad (May 10, 1869) in which most of the tracks were laid by Chinese immigrants (Library of Congress, n.d.). Rich, diverse, and expansive, the history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders is…

I-Create Student Worker Spotlight: Alex Esquivel

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:March 19, 2021
Post category:Behind the Scenes Hello, from the Staff We Made This

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…

A Degree in University Life

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:December 1, 2020
Post category:Behind the Scenes Hello, from the Staff Library Randomness

I started working in the Mary and Jeff Bell Library, March 18, 1998. The Library is a division of Academic Affairs reporting to the Provost. During the past 22 years, I have seen three Presidents and six Provosts in administration. I have worked directly under three Directors, one Interim Director, two Management Teams, one Associate Vice President, and currently the Dean of Libraries. There was a point when we had a void in library leadership and I was the only…