University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Among his numerous accomplishments, Stephen Roberts oversaw construction of the off-campus storage facility for the libraries. Photo: NANCY J. PARISI

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• “I’ve been very fortunate over the years to have been able to surround myself with very smart, dedicated professionals who have then collaborated effectively to move things in good directions.”

  Stephen Roberts

  Associate Vice President, University Libraries

By SUE WUETCHER

Published: December 16, 2009

Stephen M. Roberts, who has headed the UB Libraries since 2005, has announced his retirement at the end of the academic year after more than 30 years with the libraries.

A national search to identify Roberts’ successor will be conducted. The committee, chaired by Bruce McCombe, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, is scheduled to hold its first meeting tomorrow.

Provost Satish K. Tripathi praised Roberts for his years of service to UB.

“During Steve’s remarkable 30 plus year tenure at UB, we called upon him on so many occasions to lead transformational efforts in our libraries,” Tripathi said. “Steve brought the UB libraries into the digital age, literally moved the Lockwood library from the South Campus to the North Campus and, more recently, was instrumental in reimagining the libraries to meet the needs of a 21st century research university.

“Those who have had the pleasure to work with Steve know he has never shied away implementing visionary initiatives for the betterment of our university,” he said. “He will be missed and we, as a university community, wish him all the best in retirement.”

Roberts was appointed associate vice president for university libraries in November 2007 after having served as acting associate vice president since October 2005.

He joined the UB Libraries in 1977—his first office was in the old Lockwood Library, now the Health Sciences Library in Abbott Hall on the South Campus—to oversee the migration of the major library units from the South Campus to new buildings on the North Campus.

He then led efforts to computerize basic library services, such as circulation/reserve and the catalog, and transition from print to online resources.

“We were one of the first shops on campus to migrate to a near total dependence on PCs and the Internet,” he points out.

He also worked with Computing and Information Technology to design and implement UB Wings, the university's first campus-wide information system, and later the cybraries.

Roberts says the bulk of the libraries’ acquisitions budget now is spent on digital, rather than paper-based products. “Over the past few years, we've also started adding hundreds and thousands of electronic books to our collection,” he explains. “Since so many retrospective collections of journals and documents are now accessible online, we have started moving miles of paper materials to our annex”—Roberts oversaw construction of the storage facility on Rensch Road across Sweet Home Road from the North Campus—“freeing up stack space, and getting ready to upgrade our facilities to meet current research and study needs of faculty and students.“

Looking back on his career, Roberts says that overall, the thing he’s most proud of is just “holding things together during this period

of interesting, but intense and rapid change.”

“The speed with which the digital revolution took place came as a surprise to most of us; an amazing amount of change has occurred over a remarkably short span of years,” he says. “Considering the skepticism of librarians and faculty when the information world started to shift toward the digital online world, it is a pleasure to see that UB moved decisively and quickly, and that most of our community accepted the change and adjusted to a very different information environment than the one to which they were previously wedded.

“At the same time that the format of our information was changing,” he notes, “we had to cope with rapidly inflating prices, get used to leasing rather than buying resources, and deal with big budget cuts. My administrative team and our staff have worked hard to identify priorities and to continue to satisfy our demanding users.”

Roberts adds that he’s been very fortunate over the years “to have been able to surround myself with very smart, dedicated professionals who have then collaborated effectively to move things in good directions. As a group, I think we've accomplished a lot,” he says.

Roberts recently moved from the Parkside neighborhood to the Buffalo waterfront, and says he intends to spend his retirement years traveling with his significant other, spending time with his children and granddaughter, and reading, listening to music and building a part-time career as a cabinetmaker.