In a celebration last week of the more than 200 books recently produced by faculty members, authors told the stories behind their publications in the Shields Library Courtyard. Co-sponsored by the General Library and the UCD Bookstore, the Faculty Authors Celebration featured 11 authors from across the disciplines. Some talked about their searches in the physical world. Chemist Philip Jessop discussed benign ways of doing chemistry while materials scientist Amiya Mukherjee related his discovery of creeping "advanced materials." Still others explained the lengthy process to complete their projects. Designer Victoria Rivers said it took two years of red tape to get one Russian photo for her book The Shining Cloth: Dress and Adornment That Glitter, itself a 10-year feat. English scholar Alessa Johns, who edited Dreadful Visitations: Confronting Natural Catastrophe in the Age of Enlightenment, acknowledged the help of a colleague with final edits as she recovered from an accident. (To the right, research associate Laura Mills and librarian Michael Winter peruse The Shining Cloth.)