This
hCalendar-compliant page
is optimized for search engines. View this calendar as published at
sc.edu.
Data Visualization - The Essentials - History, Concepts, and Principles
Most of us live in a visual world. As technologies have developed, more of our world has become more visual. This is no less true in our learning, teaching, and research world as it is in our personal living world. Data visualization, the use of charts, graphs, plots, maps, etc. to explain and explore data, has now become an essential literacy as well as an expected application skill in growing areas of academia and work. This learning session provides a foundation for developing a fundamental understanding of data visualization. We will discuss five essentials:
What data visualization is and why it's important
, Where data visualization came from and how continues to evolve
, Some of the science explaining why and how data visualization works
, Foundational principles that help to define effective and ineffective data visualizations
, Crucial ethical and accessibility issues related to data visualization use
,
Register at https://libcal.library.sc.edu/event/14771401.
Tuesday, November 4, 2025, 10:05 AM – 11:20 AM.
See event description for more details.
Data Visualization - The Essentials - Application Principles and Processes
Data visualization literacy is already an essential knowledge requirement for our academic environment as well as generally. Data visualization application knowledge and skills are becoming increasingly valuable and even required in more and more of the academic and work world. To create and use data visualizations in our academic and work worlds we first must answer a couple of questions. We then need some basic understanding of how the predominant data visualization tools function. In this learning session we will consider and discuss five essentials for applying data visualization:
How do we determine the appropriate data visualization type(s) to use?
, How do we decide which data visualization tool or product to use?
, How do the three predominant data visualization tools (Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, Tableau) compare in terms of usage?
, Why, when, and how might we use programming languages such as R and Python for creating data visualizations?
, How might we use tools such as ArcGIS and…
Thursday, November 6, 2025, 2:50 PM – 4:05 PM.
See event description for more details.
Extracting Data from Websites Using APIs
Unlock the power of APIs to efficiently extract and utilize data from websites! This hands-on workshop is designed for beginners and intermediate learners who want to gain practical skills in API integration. Participants will learn the fundamentals of APIs, how to access and interpret API documentation, and techniques for extracting structured data for analysis. We will cover the following topics:
What is an API and its role in data extraction?
, How to make requests and handle responses?
, What are API keys ?
, How to parse the JSON and other data formats?
, New York Times API example for extracting data
,
By the end of this workshop, you’ll have the basic understanding of APIs for tasks like gathering data for research and analysis.
Register at https://libcal.library.sc.edu/event/14866148.
Friday, November 7, 2025, 10:10 AM – 11:10 AM.
See event description for more details.
Generative AI - The Essentials - GenAI is Different!
Although it has only been three years since the introduction of ChatGPT, most of us have heard more than a little about artificial intelligence (AI) and more specifically generative artificial intelligence (GenAI). It seems everything in our current world has some connection to AI and/or GenAI. At the same time, there is still a great deal of misunderstanding about GenAI; what it is, how it works, if we should use it, how we can use it effectively, etc. This session will discuss five essentials regarding GenAI:
GenAI is fundamentally different than traditional information and information search systems with which we are familiar
, Our interactions with GenAI need to be different than our interactions with traditional information systems in order to be effective
, Our uses and expectations of GenAI systems and tools need to be different than how we have used and what we have expected from our traditional systems
, We are still in the early stages of development, evolution, application, and adoption of…
Monday, November 10, 2025, 10:50 AM – 11:40 AM.
See event description for more details.
Generative AI - The Essentials - Conversations with GenAI
While we don't want to anthropomorphize GenAI any more than it already is, there is something to be said for communicating with GenAI tools in a more human conversational manner. After all, conversational AI is a key component in most GenAI tools and the way they are designed to work is based on machine learning and machine communication being more like how we believe humans learn and communicate. Just as there are skills and techniques one can learn to communicate more effectively with our fellow humans, there are also skills and techniques one can learn and apply to communicating and conversing with GenAI tools. The popular technical term for this is prompt engineering. During this session we will consider five essentials related to communicating effectively with GenAI tools:
GenAI tools are designed to use conversational AI to both understand our inquiries and respond in an understandable manner
, There is both a skill and an art to effectively communicating with GenAI tools
, GenAI tools are…
Wednesday, November 12, 2025, 10:50 AM – 11:40 AM.
See event description for more details.
Silent Book Club at Thomas Cooper Library
Love reading and talking about books? Come join us! Select a book from our browsing collection or bring your own. We'll read in silence, then end with optional discussion time. Like the book you started? Check it out and take it with you!
Admission Cost: Free.
Wednesday, November 12, 2025, 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM.
The Good, the Bad & the Naked of USC History: Historic Horseshoe History Tour
Have you ever been strolling along the Historic Horseshoe bricks and found yourself wondering about the history of Carolina and its traditions? Well, you're in luck! Meet University Archivist Elizabeth West in front of the Caroliniana for a Horseshoe history tour. Learn the origins of the Tiger Burn and what national record Gamecock students set in 1974! Free and open to the public.
Admission Cost: Free.
Thursday, November 13, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
South Caroliniana Library 910 Sumter Street.
Text Analysis for Beginners
Do you have a textual data for qualitative analysis! This session is perfect for anyone looking to transform unstructured text data into meaningful insights.
Key topics include:
Introduction to text analysis: What is it and why it matters?
, Reading and preprocessing text: Cleaning and preparing data for analysis.
, Extracting insights like word frequency and word count.
, Tools and techniques: Overview of Python libraries (e.g. NLTK) and other user-friendly platforms
, Hands-on work with real text and python notebook
,
By the end of the workshop, you’ll have a foundational understanding of text mining concepts and practical experience working with basic tools and techniques. Whether you’re a student, researcher, or professional, this workshop will equip you with the skills to start your text analysis journey!
Register at https://libcal.library.sc.edu/event/14866289.
Thursday, November 13, 2025, 2:20 PM – 3:20 PM.
See event description for more details.
Generative AI - The Essentials - Building a Basic Toolbox
We began with ChatGPT as THE GenAI tool, and for many, that may still be the only GenAI product they have ever used. In the time since its inception, however, many other GenAI products and tools have been developed. As with most tools and technologies, rarely is there one that does everything we need or want. During this session, we will build a GenAI toolbox that will be useful in our academic and general endeavors. Using the research lifecycle as a functional guide, we will consider five essential areas and mention a tool or tools relevant to those areas:
General purpose GenAI chatbots
, GenAI search tools
, Citation-mapping GenAI tools
, Data analysis/visualization GenAI tools
, GenAI writing assistants
,
We will also briefly mention non-text (image, video, sound) GenAI products.
Register at https://libcal.library.sc.edu/event/14778780.
Friday, November 14, 2025, 10:50 AM – 11:40 AM.
See event description for more details.
The Business of Publishing
Critical professional and life decisions on the part of early-career scholars occur within the economy of higher education. Academic publishers (of both books and journals) are a part of that economy and, as gatekeepers in processes of hiring, tenure, and promotion, presses play a major role in scholarly careers inside and outside the academy. To make informed decisions, it is necessary to understand the business of academic publishing.
This workshop will provide a practical overview of publishing trends, from the business practices that shape academic publishing to the ways that technological innovation are reshaping the industry. As an early-career scholar, understanding these trends will help you make informed career decisions as you engage with the world of publishing.
Michael J. McGandy is director of University of South Carolina Press. Prior to arriving at USC, he worked at Cornell University Press, where he was Senior Editor and Editorial Director of the Three Hills imprint. He has also…
Thursday, November 20, 2025, 1:15 PM – 2:45 PM.
See event description for more details.
The Good, the Bad & the Naked of USC History: Historic Horseshoe History Tour
Have you ever been strolling along the Historic Horseshoe bricks and found yourself wondering about the history of Carolina and its traditions? Well, you're in luck! Meet University Archivist Elizabeth West in front of the Caroliniana for a Horseshoe history tour. Learn the origins of the Tiger Burn and what national record Gamecock students set in 1974! Free and open to the public.
Admission Cost: Free.
Thursday, December 11, 2025, 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM.
South Caroliniana Library 910 Sumter Street.
Introduction to Publishing in Scholarly Journals
In this session, you’ll gain a comprehensive understanding of the academic publishing process. While reviewing the publishing cycle, you’ll learn to prepare your manuscript and select a high impact, accessible journal, how to navigate the peer review process and, finally, how you can promote and share your scholarship.
Virtual event: register online.
Thursday, January 22, 2026, 11:40 AM – 12:40 PM.
See event description for more details.