Today’s Special – Mary and Jeff Bell Library Blog

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Unexpected and Still Historic

Post author:Amanda Kowalski
Post published:March 22, 2022
Post category:Library Randomness Today's Special

People expect the archives to be a serious place filled with staunch academic research. While it is that, it is also so much more. For the staff of Special Collections and Archives sometimes the unexpected is the most exciting part of our collections. The Charles F.H. von Blucher papers are historic, they document the settling of South Texas. These papers start in the mid-1800s and follow the Blucher family through several generations. The Bluchers were surveyors and engineers which makes…

How to Celebrate Women’s History Month with the Bell Library!

Post author:Emma Drumright
Post published:March 2, 2022
Post category:Service for You Things to Do Today's Special

March is here which means Women’s History Month is here! Women’s History Month is dedicated to honoring contributions of women and girls across the ages. This year’s theme, Women Providing Healing and Promoting Hope, is a tribute to the work of health care workers, caregivers, and frontline workers as well as the ways women of all cultures have provided both healing and hope throughout history. The National Women’s Alliance webpage has more information on this year's celebration and theme! Looking…

GIS Day

Post author:Alexa Hight
Post published:November 16, 2021
Post category:Today's Special

GIS Day is an annual event that celebrates the technology of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This annual international celebration of GIS technology was first celebrated in 1999. GIS is the scientific framework for gathering, analyzing, and visualizing geographic data to help humans make better decisions. GIS day helps others learn about geography and real-world applications of GIS that are making a difference to society. This day is a chance for folks to share their accomplishments and inspire others to discover…

Censorship and Inaccessibility

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:September 21, 2021
Post category:Today's Special

Happy Almost-Banned Books Week, everybody! We at Bell Library love a themed celebration, and Banned Books Week is particularly near and dear to our hearts as it celebrates everyone’s right to read. Specifically, everyone’s right to read whatever books they like. Books are regularly “challenged” in school libraries and public libraries. A challenge is when someone complains that a book is available and demands it be removed. If they succeed, the book has been “banned.” Usually, folks try to ban…

Descubrir, Aprender, y Mejorar! Discover, Learn, and Improve During Hispanic Heritage Month 2021

Post author:Trisha Hernandez
Post published:September 7, 2021
Post category:Things to Do Today's Special

It’s September!! This wonderful 9th month of the year brings all sorts of wonders with it. We’re shaking off the start of a new semester and getting settled in. Starbucks, and almost every other brand in the nation, has a pumpkin spiced something available for all. We officially transition into autumn. Temperatures start dropping…or rather we desperately hope that temperatures start dropping because the warm weather we wished for all winter has become hot and sticky and gross and we’re…

Happy Pride Month! Celebrate with Popular Reading

Post author:Trisha Hernandez
Post published:June 15, 2021
Post category:Books & More Today's Special

Happy Pride Month, Islanders!! For those unaware, Pride Month is celebrated across the nation every June. But why June? In June of 1969, a total of around 200 individuals (many were patrons of a popular Greenwich Village gay bar – the Stonewall Inn) rallied against routine police harassment against the LGBTQ+ community. It all began as a police raid of the bar based on false accusations. As police were arresting patrons and employees, those who hadn’t been grabbed yet were…

One Librarian’s (Very Personal) Opinion on GOP Lawmakers Wanting to Ban ‘Woke’ Philosophies

Post author:Alexa Hight
Post published:June 11, 2021
Post category:Behind the Scenes Library Randomness Today's Special

About a month ago, the Texas Tribune published an article on the Texas Legislature 2021: GOP lawmakers want to ban “woke philosophies” like critical race theory in Texas schools. The article briefly explains what critical race theory (CRT) is with “an academic discipline that views race as a social construct and examines how racism has shaped legal and social systems.” Sounds fairly reasonable, given the history of what are now known as the United States and recent events around policing of black people and other…

What is in a Picture?

Post author:Amanda Kowalski
Post published:May 28, 2021
Post category:Behind the Scenes Today's Special

What is in a picture? Clearly, this seems like a straightforward answer. When you look at the picture it is apparent what is captured, but is it really? Pictures capture the lived experience, something that the written record cannot grasp. Images show the lived life, it gives a new layer of historical research. While photographs certainly can cover the basics of people, events, and places, they also add a visual layer. The modern researcher can see these things as they…

Summer Reading

Post author:Alexa Hight
Post published:May 18, 2021
Post category:Books & More Today's Special

Looking for something to read this summer? Look no further than our Popular Reading collection! We have a ton of new books, and more arriving each month! Here are just a few to get you started on your browsing: Aceves, Fred; The new David Espinoza Obsessed with the idea that he is not muscular enough and tired of being bullied, David, age seventeen, begins using steroids, endangering his relationships with family and friends. Bolden, Tonya; Saving Savannah Savannah Riddle feels suffocated by her life…

Celebrated International Classics: Russian Literature – Anton Chekhov

Post author:Bell Library
Post published:May 7, 2021
Post category:Books & More Things to Do Today's Special

These days, our world is standing on the precipice of time, but as we wait for the prospect of a different tomorrow, I cannot help but feel the culmination of togetherness has grown exponentially stronger. Not just in the sense of a neighborly or familial acquaintance, but also to those hundreds upon thousands of miles away across the great masses of water. Internationally. Be that as it may, current circumstances have rendered us limited in our approach to setting off…