Have you ever started doing a spring or summer or fall or winter or some other time cleaning and come across books you haven’t seen or used in years? Have you ever wondered what to do with books you no longer want or need? Believe it or not, there are several wonderful options available for these books if they are in good condition, i.e. all the pages are there and readable, no mold or mildew, and the binding is…
Hey Faculty Friends! Have you ever seen a big group of students leaving a library computer lab and thought to yourself, “I wonder where all of those intelligent, curious, beautiful people came from?” The answer, my friend, is library instruction. Usually when people think of library instruction they think of a 50-minute class session during which a librarian demonstrates how to use certain databases or the library catalog. While there’s not really anything wrong with this image, it’s not exactly…
This summer, Bell Library was faced with a choice. The database Lexis-Nexis, long a mainstay among library online resources, was coming up for renewal. We could have just renewed it automatically. Lexis Nexis seems foundational. Essential, even. But some concerns brought us up short. Usage was way down over previous years. The price has gone up over the same time span. And there were some problems with the contract that the company wanted us to sign. The TAMU system has…
As the Student Coordinator for Access Services (or as many know it as the Circulation Desk), I typically work with 12–13 students assistants every semester. Throughout the semester, a student assistant may need to resign, and it is up to me to fill this position. So, has it ever crossed your mind what one (or myself) looks for in a student employee? What qualities should one have?What experience should one have? If you are one who has wondered about these…
We’ve done it, friends. We’ve reached the final frame in the ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education: Searching as Strategic Exploration. Thanks for sticking with me! “Searching as Strategic Exploration” addresses the part of information literacy that we think of as “Research.” It deals with the actual task of searching for information, and the word “Exploration” is a really good word to use because it’s evocative of the kind of struggle we sometimes feel when we approach research.…
Have you ever been interested in doing archival research, but you’re not sure where to start? Unlike most other library resources, archival collections are generally unique materials which only exist in one place. This is why they can be so valuable to research, since the information and perspective they contain often can’t be found anywhere else. But it also presents a problem: How to locate the collections which might be useful to you. Here are some tips and tricks on…
Many people in an academic setting have heard of copyright, but if asked what it is, what it protects, and who it affects, not too many can fully respond. So, what is copyright and how does it affect our daily lives at TAMU-CC? Simply put, copyright is everywhere. From the materials used in a lecture, to the readings assigned for homework, to the research papers, art projects, and other works created for one’s job or class, copyrighted works are either…
Biographical Information Name?David Jones Current job?Makerspace TechnicianHow long have you been in the field?I went in the Navy in 1986, but I did not start working in a laboratory environment until 1992. On the civilian side, I started working in product development and testing for Hyster-Yale Group in 2006 where I purchased our first and second 3D printers. How Do You Work? What is your office/workspace like?It is full of things that make me happy and a mostly cluttered desk. How…
A Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, and an atheist walk into a cave…no this is not a poorly devised joke, but part of the plot line to Christopher Golden’s Bram Stoker Award winning novel, Ararat. What begins as an exploration of a newly revealed opening in the great Mount Ararat, ends in loss of sanity, the external and internal battle between good and evil, paranoia, death, and so much more. Let’s take a step back and talk a bit about the…
Site-sensitive installation art, according to Island University Assistant Professor of Art Leticia Bajuyo, can include materials ranging from paint to steel to sound, as these artworks not only take up physical space but also space in our minds. This is one of the philosophies that shaped the spring 2019 Sculpture III course at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and led to its focus on public art installations. In collaboration with the Mary and Jeff Bell Library, eight student-created sculptures are now…