You’ve Got Questions, We’ve Got Answers: Bell Library’s COVID Guide

You’ve made it to the 3rd week of Fall 2020, bravo!! I really mean it. Congratulations to you, whether you’re a student, faculty, or staff!! Since March we’ve been living in a world that can simply be described as: 2020. That’s right! This year has been so crazy that if Godzilla popped up somewhere the phrase, “that’s 2020 for you” is an accurate remark. With our 2020 bingo cards to our monthly reaction memes, it has been a rollercoaster to say…

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What I’ve Been Reading During Quarantine

Like everyone else, I’ve found myself spending a lot more time at home and although I’ve partaken in zoom birthday parties, Netflix binging, etc., I’ve also tried to spend time away from screens, especially since all meetings now take place via a computer screen. I have by no means broke any records of books read, but I’ve read some good things from the Library’s Popular Reading Collection: Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi. This book is the second in a…

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Overcoming: COVID Ain’t Slowing Us Down

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…

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I-Create Lab Now Taking Reservations

On June 22, 2020, the Mary and Jeff Bell Library will be reopening to students, staff, and faculty with limited services. The I-Create Lab will also be open with some changes meant to keep everyone safe during these uncertain times. The I-Create Lab will be switching to a reservation-based system for the use of all equipment and study rooms to follow social distancing practices effectively. All reservations must be made at least 24 hours in advance through our online reservation…

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The Fuuutuuure (of Library Instruction)

Planning for the Fall semester is ramping up, and the Bell Library Instruction Program is getting into gear for a semester unlike any other. To keep our students, faculty, and librarians safe and healthy, our classes might look a little different in the coming year. Here are some ideas for how we plan to continue providing quality information literacy instruction while practicing social distancing: Labs Schlabs: Although we generally prefer to do most of our instruction inside the library’s two…

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A Wonderland of Music: Naxos Music Library

Hey, classical music lovers… Did you know that the Mary and Jeff Bell Library provides access to a database of over 150,000 albums? That’s right, Naxos Music Library (NML) has a huge catalog of (primarily) classical streaming music, and it’s freely available to all TAMU-CC students, faculty, and staff. There are several ways you can select something to listen to. You can search for a specific work, of course. Or you can click the “People” link from the menu on the left…

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Bored in the House? Take a walk with me!

If you’re like me, you go on rabbit trails often. You’ll start by looking up a book for class and next thing you know you’re on YouTube learning how to make a Matcha Latte with 10 tabs open and Spotify paused in the background.  For today, I thought we’d take a rabbit trail together through some of the fun and educational resources at your friendly neighborhood university library!  Mary and Jeff Bell Library has a YouTube Channel that’s got a new chameleon circuit (Doctor…

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Yoo Hoo! Check us out on YouTube!

We’re all adjusting to some changes right now, and just like you (probably), the library is working from home now! This means we’ve had to adapt our services a bit. We’re buying more ebooks, we’re responding to chats, phone calls, and email reference questions from our homes, and finally, we’ve taken our instruction online! We’re really missing our students these days, and not getting to see you all in the library is honestly a bummer. But just because we can’t…

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COVID 19 Archiving Project at Mary and Jeff Bell Library

When the illness first began, we read about it on news sites and watched shows talk about the COVID-19 virus affecting China in horrendous ways. But we did not quite gather that it was zooming towards us and the rest of the world at breakneck speeds.  Then it was here, and life changed within a few days. We were confined to our homes except for a few essential employees. The grocery stores were wiped clean of paper and canned goods,…

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Learn More at an I-Create Workshop

Want to learn more about projects you can do at the I-Create Lab? If so, the I-Create Lab's workshops have been a great way to learn about projects anyone can do using the equipment in the lab.  The first student lead workshop was "Painting 3D models," where patrons were invited to learn how to paint their 3D models made by the lab's 3D printers. Since then, the workshops have become more advanced, with the last two being a "Sticker Workshop"…

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