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Regional awareness of historical and ecological impacts of invasive species : A case for highlighting government resources for local history research
Guillermo Corona and Shannon Pensa
Historically the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas has relied on agriculture for economic development as well as travel and tourism given its proximity to Mexico. UTRGV University Library Special Collections & Archives compiles research guides to facilitate access and discovery of relevant information and resources among our collections. Our Invasive Plant & Insect Species Research Guide is also intended to raise regional awareness of the historical impacts of invasive species on the local environment and agriculture, including the transformation of ecological landscapes, endangerment of native species, economic harms, and threats to human safety and border security. You may access the Invasive Plants & Insects Research Guide via: https://utrgv.libguides.com/SCA/invasive
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Valentine’s Day @ the Library
Raquel Estrada
The University Library celebrated its first Valentine’s Day @ the Library event in 2024 with the aim of promoting government resources. To capture patron attention this event highlighted free printable Valentine cards available from various government websites. To support this activity, digital posters were created promoting government resources, and an information table was set up featuring some of the printable Valentine cards and promotional material from the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP). With positive response towards programming, we are expecting to continue this event in the future.
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Leveraging the Federal Depository Library (FDL) Conference to provide pathways for exploring government resources and expanding professional presentation skills
Raquel Estrada and Shannon Pensa
When is a conference more than just a conference? Can the FDL Conference be a platform for more than connecting with colleagues and researching government documents? Librarians from The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Acquisitions and Collection Development and Special Collections and Archives explore how the FDL conference might serve as a gateway to promoting government resources and building communication and presentation skills. Our goal is to think beyond the traditional approaches to conference participation as a space to connect, and showcase knowledge, and to consider how the conference might serve as a unique platform for library paraprofessional staff to contribute, an opportunity to establish new partnerships with faculty and students, leverage engagement with other community members, and develop alternative ways to promote government resources
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Expanding Our Reach: Incorporating Government Resources in Poster Presentations
Raquel Estrada
With the overall success of the poster presentations being created by the UTRGV University Library for different occasions and themes, we opted to bring government resources whenever possible into new poster presentations to reach a wider audience. After careful consideration, creating a slide(s) where we added links and QR codes to various resources including government resources worked best and could easily be replicated and fit within many of the poster presentations or displays being planned. Adding the FDLP logo was an added bonus that helped identify FDLP resources as well as promote the library as a depository library.
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Getting in on the Library Poster Presentation Bandwagon: Creating Posters for Constitution Day
Samantha Bustillos and Raquel Estrada
With the success of the virtual poster displays created by the library typically aligning with national themes and celebrations, we decided to create a virtual poster display for Constitution Day. Our Constitution Day posters cover a variety of formats as well as subjects including the ideologies of U.S. founding fathers, women in the American Revolution, constitutional ratifications over time, and implications of constitutional law on minorities. As a Hispanic Serving Institution, we created a slide to highlight and celebrate the first Hispanic U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor. The virtual posters are a new tool to promote library resources, including government documents, during Constitution Day. They provide a new avenue to engage our students and community members and can easily be printed and displayed in the library. By uploading the posters to our Institutional Repository (ScholarWorks) we have had the opportunity to reach a wider audience. We have seen downloads from several U.S. states as well as the following countries United Arab Emirates, Brazil, and Finland.
