Nothing has been as easy as it should be during the pandemic. COVID-19 has turned life’s “difficult” knob to an uncomfortable level, and we’ve only started to see some relief—an experience that has also been made more difficult by the Delta variant. For most of the last year and a half, simple tasks have carried a phantom weight, and naturally challenging work has taken on Sisyphean characteristics. So, when someone isn’t just doing their job but excelling at it, they seem not of this world.

In the summer of last year, the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) needed a new editor for their bi-monthly scholarly research journal, College & Research Libraries. The ACRL publications coordinating committee formed a search committee, including University of Rochester committee member Kristen Totleben, humanities librarian for the River Campus Libraries.

Not all knights wear armor—some wear overalls. And some carry a plunger instead of a sword. And some are also named Mario.

A month ago, if you asked the University of Rochester community to name the libraries’ search and discovery function, you would have been asking a trick question. There wasn’t one. However, you still would have gotten answers.

Frequent readers of University of Rochester libraries content are familiar with its references to popular culture, which have recently included Rick Astley, Scrooge McDuck, and Don Henley.

In 2012, Evans Lam ʼ83, ʼ84S (MBA), a newly elected University of Rochester trustee, was in Manhattan for a board retreat.

Even if you’re not into comic books and your attention has escaped the gravitational pull of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you’re probably familiar with at least one superhero origin story.

Peter Parker became Spider-Man when a radioactive spider bit him.

There are University of Rochester professionals who build such an outstanding record of major contributions to the University and their fields that when they retire, we say, “Well deserved, but you’ll be back, right?” And assuming they will, we grant them emeritus status.

It’s a Tuesday morning in 1988. You’re sitting on a bench, looking for the bus you’re waiting on, while Rick Astley is coming through the headphones of your Sony Walkman, promising he’s “never gonna give you up” (or let you down or run around and desert you). You believe him.

With the University of Rochester in between semesters, you may be tempted to think the libraries have powered down for the summer. Far from it, friend.