As if 27 years of service weren't enough, Bobby Roberts kick-started two initiatives at the Central Arkansas Library System with personal donations at his retirement party Sunday.
The library system's former director made the first contributions to the Roberts Children's Nutrition Fund and the Butler Center Photo Exhibit Fund. The former will start a farmers market and hunger-relief garden for the community around the Hillary Rodham Clinton Children's Library and Learning Center; the latter will enable the library system to exhibit more than 200,000 historical images from the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies' collections.
Little Rock City Director Kathy Webb, who also serves as the executive director of the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, praised Roberts' new nutrition initiative. The program will teach children to grow and cook healthy food. By allowing the kids to take food home, Webb said, it will be a model even for the children's parents.
"Evidence shows these changes can be transformative," she said. "I think the children's library is going to make food come to life for kids."
The photo exhibit will give the public better access to the hundreds of thousands of photos currently in archival storage, several historians said in a video shown to the crowd of about 300 at Sunday's event.
The Central Arkansas Library System more than doubled in size under Roberts' watch. The system consisted of six branches when the now 71-year-old took over in 1989; he left it with 14 branches on March 4.
As the system grew, so too did its budget. Roberts was instrumental in gaining public support in eight successful elections to either increase millages dedicated to the libraries or to refinance old bonds at more favorable rates.
The library system has branches in Jacksonville, Little Rock, Maumelle, Perryville, Sherwood and Wrightsville.
As a saxophonist played on a patio overlooking a small swamp behind the children's library on Sunday, a procession of well-wishers shook Roberts' hand. They included Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola, former U.S. Sen. and former Arkansas Gov. David Pryor, Maumelle Mayor Michael Watson, County Judge Barry Hyde of Pulaski County, and state Rep. Warwick Sabin, D-Little Rock.
"I like to drink, read and sleep, and I can do that more," Roberts told the many who asked if he was enjoying retirement.
Roberts, who worked for Gov. Bill Clinton in the 1980s, may be retired, but he still keeps an office at the Main Library in Little Rock, where he works as a historian. The former director will also stay active working with the library's foundation to seek out private donations.
Nate Coulter replaced Roberts at the helm, leaving a post at the Millar Jiles LLP law firm. Coulter also worked for Clinton three decades ago. The new director ended a tribute to Roberts by telling him: "Don't be a stranger."
As gifts, Roberts received a dictionary stand and a 1961 edition of Merriam-Webster. Inscriptions on the stand read "Unwavering believer in the unifying power of the American public library" and "detestor of cheap whiskeys and receptions with no booze."
Roberts gave two more toys to the children's library. The first, a beehive, gives children a look at how honey is made. He also was sure to leave behind a trebuchet, or catapult-like device.
"You can see where your tax money actually went, and you can tell the paper to print that," Roberts joked to the crowd. Many there agreed that those two gifts were small examples of how Roberts made the libraries enjoyable places to do more than just read.
Metro on 05/02/2016