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A New Era of Service on the Coast

Librarians get questions about, well … everything. 

The Jack K. Williams Library at Texas A&M University at Galveston is a place where Sea Aggies explore topics in a wide range of disciplines and a place where questions are freely asked.

They range from “How do I cite this in my paper?” to a question about box office figures — in El Salvador — in a specific year for a particular movie, said Kerri Foley, learning and engagement librarian in Galveston.

Answers came in the past, but they have been coming much more rapidly since the fall of 2024 when the library joined Texas A&M University’s library system. Becoming the sixth member of Texas A&M University Libraries helped provide additional, important services to Sea Aggie students and faculty. 

“Since then, we’ve provided a better level of service,” Foley said.

The Williams Library gained the University Libraries’ popular Get It For Me interlibrary loan service, new study pods, a bestseller’s collection, the ability to book study rooms, and, most recently, the introduction of the Tech Bar with checkout offerings for laptops, cameras, calculators and much more.

New furnishings for the Williams Library were funded by the Galveston County Aggie Moms' Club as part of their campus enrichment program.

“We are able to draw on new resources, and students are hearing the word ‘yes’ a lot more than they used to,” Foley said. “If I'm not able to answer a question or be somewhere at a given time, I'm able to call on someone in College Station who could have an answer.”

Plato ‘Visited’ Galveston this Past Fall

Each year, a Texas A&M at Galveston campus committee chooses one book for first-year students in all degree programs to study.

The idea is to allow them to reflect on enduring questions our society faces through the lens of a classic text and synthesize a book’s multiple meanings through the campus’ broad range of disciplines.

This past fall, the committee chose “Plato’s “The Republic,” the most famous work by one of the western world’s foremost authors and thinkers. 

“The goal is to have every incoming first-year student encounter the text in at least one of their classes,” Foley said. “There will also be Plato’s ‘The Republic’ campus-wide programming such as movie nights, guest lecturers and trivia contests.”

After the committee selected a translation widely hailed for its natural readability and updated language, Texas A&M University Libraries staff swung into action.

“Librarians in College Station quickly acquired a license for that particular translation for all first-years to have access to a free digital copy through the Galveston library,” Foley said.  “We are all very excited about this!”

Help with a Tough Exam

Former Sea Aggie students with a merchant mariner license are coveted by potential employers.

“Holding this license is a big deal, but to get one you have to pass a really challenging exam,” Foley said. “The national pass rate isn’t great.” 

The test is administered in rooms where students use thick, archaic reference materials that up until that point students have only seen electronically.

“Campus administrators wanted our library to have an area with the printed reference materials they use during the exam,” she said.

With help from University Libraries, a room was set up in the Galveston library dedicated to preparing for the exam. Students can practice with the specific set of nautical charts used for the exam.

“Working with the digital version of the charts is very different from being handed a 600-page volume with tiny print,” Foley said. “Now, students will be able to prepare and not go to the exam cold turkey.”

New and Expanded Services to Students

Other signature library services that have long been offered in College Station are now available to Sea Aggies either for the first time or in significantly enhanced versions.

• Get It For Me — Galveston’s interlibrary loan system workflow was completely overhauled. “Students and faculty are getting things faster. We’ve got a wider reach than we did before,” Foley said.
• Best Seller Collection — “Everything from romance, young adult, to science fiction and nonfiction. It’s right in the center of the library and those books are circulating well.”
• Tech Bar — Opened in fall 2025, Foley said the new service that offers laptops, cameras, and other tech items for checkout is very popular. “We've got a lot of marine biologists on campus, and they're literally out at sea, and the cameras here help them capture what they're doing out there in a meaningful way.”
• Booking Rooms — One of the best parts of the transition, Foley said, has been students’ ability to book study rooms on the library website instead of an external system.  “Now we can assess how the rooms are being used, which ones are the most popular and when. That’s valuable data for us to have.”
• On Board the TS Kennedy — A new library is up and running aboard the TS Kennedy, a 540-foot training vessel for Texas A&M Maritime Academy cadets. It consists of materials from the Galveston campus library and was stocked with help from staff at College Station’s library.

The ship’s library was supported by the Friends of the Texas A&M University Libraries and the Galveston County Aggie Moms' Club.