By CONOR SHEA
Features Editor
Andrew Urbanek, the recently hired Saint Rose director of library services, sits behind a desk in a back office where it can sometimes be too cold to bear. After a greeting, he offers to talk out on the main floor of the library, a decision that is soon reflected in the appreciative way he talks about the Neil Hellman Library.
While he may be the man behind the curtain keeping everything running, more than anything he identifies with the patrons of such a college library, and has no qualms about sitting amongst them rather than behind a tall desk.
Urbanek, who prefers to go by Drew, isn’t exactly what you might expect, and in this case, that’s a great thing. There can often be misconceptions about those who work in academic or public libraries—namely that they are prone to shushing and seriousness—but that couldn’t be further from the truth in Urbanek’s case. He’s easy to talk to, gets right to the point, yet has a sense of humor. He also hasn’t lost sight of what it means to be a college student, something that can be hard to come by, but immeasurably useful, when hiring someone to run a college library.
Urbanek’s resume is far from lacking, with a bachelor’s degree in English (philosophy minor), one master’s degree in English, and one in library sciences. He attended the University at Albany for all three of these degrees, and concurrently worked at the UAlbany library as an undergrad. Just prior to coming to work at the Neil Hellman Library, he held the position of director of library services for the Herkimer Community College library.
Going by just his college and work experience, he is in many ways an Albany native, so making the transition to Saint Rose wasn’t an unusual step in his career. Regarding his first experience with the College, he explained, “I lived a block away when I was an undergrad, and I actually used to sneak into [the Neil Hellman Library] to study. I worked in the downtown library at UAlbany, but people know you and would ask you to help out behind the circulation desk. So, instead, I would come here to study.”
Urbanek, who was hired at the beginning of the fall 2013 semester, has only great things to say about joining the Saint Rose community. “I love [working for Saint Rose]. A lot of places talk about transparency, but this place is very transparent,” he said.
“The administration here has been fantastic in saying ‘we have a few problems, here’s exactly what’s going on, and here’s what we’re trying to do’. So even if you have a sense of concern, they’re being honest and open, so you know it must not be terrible or undoable, and that’s great,” he explained further.
Regarding his impression of the Saint Rose student body, there was no pause to mull it over, as he responds immediately with, “You guys impress the hell out of me!”
“I like that I can come in here and see somebody studying with a laptop balanced on one knee and flash cards balanced on the other. I also like that I can scan farther down this room and see people right now reading for pleasure,” he continued.
Reflecting back on his own college years, he offers some simple, yet poignant advice for the very same students that impress him: “Jump. Try it.”
He elaborated that like many other students, he was very prudent while at college- “Well, maybe not so much freshman year,” he added, laughing.
“I was very focused on finding a career, and getting something that was tangibly worthwhile, but college is a place to risk, and try new things, figure out where your passions lie, and maybe find a job through that.”
As director of library services, Urbanek is essentially running the show at Neil Hellman, with the administrative and budget decisions in his hands. Despite this fact, it’s not all work all the time at the library, and Urbanek has no trouble admitting that some behind-the-scenes hijinks happen frequently.
“We have one person who works here, Sean Gilligan, who used to be a student and R.A. [at Saint Rose]. Sean’s genius is that he is such a prankster… like for instance, there’s a water fountain downstairs by the elevator, and he’ll put signs up there all the time. The best one he put there was one that said ‘Voice Activated Water Fountain,’ and so you’d hear people yelling, ‘water…water!’”
“The shenanigans are always fun, so having a place where you can do that, makes it so much easier to come to work.”
Urbanek’s job might be boiled down to making sure the library is a place that accommodates the needs of both the school and the students while balancing administrative requests. Even so, he can recognize that accommodating the students’ needs sometimes means just having a place to go to regardless of the academic or social nature of the visit.
“I think that classes ask a lot of students; write a paper, give a presentation, do this group work, pass this final. And the social stuff asks a lot, too; join us for this, join us for that, time, time, time. So I like that the library is kind of a counterbalance for that, in that we provide resources and personal space. That way, you have these challenges, but you also have what you need to meet them.”
He seems to be fitting right in to the Saint Rose staff and community, and is working hard to help make the Neil Hellman Library the most useful and accessible environment it can be.
When asked where he thinks he will be working in five years, Urbanek responded with an unequivocal and definitive “Here,” and that tells you all you need to know on how he feels about Saint Rose.
