Every month of the year has been claimed as the month to celebrate, recognize, prevent, or raise awareness for a surprisingly long list of things.

In The Adventure of the Mason’s Helper, consulting detective Danforth Harkness is drawn to a singular series of thefts. Each victim claims to have been robbed by Pete Nicosia. The accusations are baffling because one year prior, Nicosia was working on a library tower as a mason’s helper when he slipped and fell to his death—an end confirmed by his foreman, James Conroy.

RBSCP’s new exhibit, Ephemera: “Minor Transient Documents of Everyday Life” examines ephemera from across our holdings, offering insights into what has been kept, and how it can be used today. These items, originally created for temporary use, were often not created to be meant to be saved, yet ephemera is everywhere in archives and special collections libraries.

In my creative writing course, poet Christian Wessels reminds us that poetry has no utilitarian function. There is no information to absorb in the way one might do so when scanning a restaurant menu or a grocery store receipt. As a centuries-old artistic medium that began as an oral tradition, poetry harnesses the power of language to offer its readers an experience unlike any other.

It’s difficult to see through the polychromatic glass wall on the first floor of Carlson Science and Engineering Library at the University of Rochester, but not so difficult that passersby would miss someone wildly waving their arms around, seemingly directing invisible traffic.

Lifelong Rochester resident Peter Conners is in his 18th year with BOA Editions, Ltd., an independent publishing house, where he is the publisher and executive director. He is responsible for identifying and cultivating unique literary talents and bringing their high-quality work to the reading public. But Conners has spent even more time on the other side of publishing.

When an article of clothing is described—often proudly—as “one size fits all,” it usually means there’s an adjustable element or elastic is involved. In either case, the item was made to fit an estimation of the “average” person, which amounts to a broad range of people, but still isn’t inclusive of everyone. So, in actuality, the one size fits some really well, some okay, and others not at all.

There is a similar one-size-fits-all structure in scholarly publishing.

The Ask the Archivist column in the Winter 2022 Rochester Review answered a question from River Campus Library staff, who asked about the history of the the library's annual gift to the Baden Street Settlement. You can read the article here. 

When a University of Rochester student or faculty or staff member is pursuing research or working on a project, one of their best assets is their subject librarian. In recent years, anyone taking classes or teaching in the Departments of Biology, Biomedical Engineering, and Brain and Cognitive Sciences who needed assistance has been able to turn to Moriana Garcia, a STEM librarian in Carlson Science and Engineering Library.