"Sam Is For Lovers" Secures Fourth Place

August 23, 2007

CHICAGO (JRL) -- University of Chicago Library employees scattered about campus on a hot Thursday afternoon to enjoy various events offered on Library Staff Day. Among these employees, Emily Raney, Kei Hotoda, and the elusive Matthew Hacker put two-and-a-half heads together, as team "Sam Is For Lovers" (to commemorate fallen hero/co-worker Sam) to complete the 4th Annual Staff Day Scavenger Hunt. Indeed, the University of Chicago is known for the extensive and difficult annual Scav Hunt for college students, but "who has time for all that theoretical, imaginary numbered list of crap to do?" says Hotoda. She and Raney gathered as many answers as they could without setting foot outside of the Joseph Regenstein Library, largely due to laziness, carelessness, and the weather. They even admit to poking around the Cataloging section for answers, but mostly in vain--Cataloging Supervisor Janet Fox remained tight-lipped throughout most of the hunt.

One task was to come up with a haiku about the new addition to the Regenstein Library. In honor of their responsibilities for making sure the new addition has a strong and solid foundation, Raney, Hotoda, and Hacker made certain to do project manager David Borycz proud. Hotoda attributes what is basically the punchline of the haiku to Hacker, thus inducting him into team "Sam Is For Lovers." ("Otherwise, he was being selfish--exploring the secrets of the Reg, and with all due respect to Sir George Rumsey, learning how to use Picasa, and about some autumn festival," claims Hotoda.)

The collection grows
The shelves are overflowing
Why play tennis here?

After a long day of hunting for answers, a picnic turned into chaos from the torrential rains, and devilishly long commutes home due to fallen trees on the tracks, the results came in: Raney, Hotoda, and Hacker had come in fourth place. Their prize included a $15 gift card to basically Seven Ten and all the glory that securing fourth place in a Library Staff Day Scav Hunt can offer to bright and good-humored workers.