rush rhees library

A team of Rochester undergraduates is creating a virtual version of campus to go along with the virtual learning that's under way through online courses.

Students on River Campus celebrate the last day of classes with a performance by the chamber orchestra, conducted by David Harman, of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture on the steps of Rush Rhees Library. The performance marked the final conducting appearance by Harman, who is retiring this semester. Richard Feldman, who is also retiring this year as dean of the college, performed the cannon solo.

“Libraries have been managing data for centuries,” says Marcy Strong, head of metadata service at River Campus Libraries. And in the new field of data science, practitioners will rely on work University librarians have long done.

“I knew I had it,” says Linda Dudman of the University Health Service. “I knew it was a very important item to keep, but I never quite knew what to do with it.” Now the 12-foot square panel will be on display through February and finds a new home in River Campus Libraries.

Evans Lam Square, a new state-of-the-art learning and research space in Rush Rhees Library, will function as a place for innovative and collaborative programs that will bring the library to the 21st century.

A pedestrian bridge linking Rush Rhees Library with the Frederick Douglass Building is one of the renovations under construction on River Campus this summer. (University photo / J. Adam Fenster)

Buttons, bumper stickers, photographs, and video footage ranging from the era of Franklin Delano Roosevelt through John F. Kennedy to Bill Clinton, housed in the Department of Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, bring historical political campaigns to life.

Thomas Dewey was never president of the United States—no matter what the headlines said. His letters, photographs, recordings, and campaign buttons are available to the public for research in the department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation.

The summer of 2016 is one of the most active construction periods of all time on River Campus. Multiple new facilities and improvement projects are currently underway, with many scheduled to be completed by the fall.

The bust of abolitionist and leader Frederick Douglass sits in its new home on the stairway landing in the Great Hall of Rush Rhees Library. The statue is one of the oldest on campus, having been dedicated and placed in Sibley Hall on the University's original Prince Street campus in 1879.