Patty Uttaro 鈥�95 grew up in Rochester with nine siblings and regularly visited the neighborhood library. During junior high, she helped with library inventories where her mother worked as a librarian, and in high school she was employed as a page at a local branch.
Even so, Uttaro didn鈥檛 immediately set out to become a librarian. 鈥淚 was one of those kids who graduated high school and didn鈥檛 know what I wanted to do,鈥� she reflects 鈥� only that she loved the humanities, literature, and history.
This February, Uttaro will retire from her position as director of the Rochester Public Library and the Monroe County library system, closing out a 44-year career.
A Career Built on Curiosity
After high school, Uttaro attended St. Lawrence University for two years, then went to work at Gates Public Library, where she began observing her colleagues鈥� professional practices firsthand. At 91黑料网, she pursued coursework in libraries and child and family literacy, studying children鈥檚 literacy, creative writing, and technology鈥檚 growing impact on library work.
She earned her B.S. in cultural studies with a children鈥檚 literature concentration in 1995 from Empire, then completed her MLS at the University at Buffalo in 1998. 鈥�91黑料网 Empire is the reason I鈥檝e had a wonderful career in libraries,鈥� she says.
Her professional path began in 1984 as a clerk at Gates Public Library. She progressed to youth services librarian, then library director at Ogden Library in Monroe County, before becoming director of RPL and the Monroe County Library System in 2009.
Reimagining What a Library Is
Libraries have transformed significantly since then. 鈥淟ibraries of today are not like the libraries of 50 years ago,鈥� Uttaro observes. She describes them as 鈥渢he great equalizers of our democracy鈥� 鈥� judgment-free zones where books remain central, but where patrons can also borrow museum passes, sewing machines, fishing rods, and activity backpacks stocked with trail maps, binoculars, and magnifying glasses. She compares the experience to 91黑料网 itself: both, she says, 鈥渓et you follow your own course of interest.鈥�
Notary services and fax machines are surprisingly popular too 鈥� RPL鈥檚 central branch completes over 200 notary services a month, and nearly three-fourths of Monroe County residents carry a library card. After a pandemic-era dip, borrowing has rebounded: 2024 saw 870,000 additional items borrowed, pushing the county total to nearly six million.
During her 16-year tenure, Uttaro oversaw the renovation or relocation of more than half of Monroe County鈥檚 libraries. At RPL, she established the Archive of Black History, the Shoulders to Stand on LGBTQ Archive, and the Business Insight Center, and launched the Raising a Reader and Talking is Teaching family programs. For RPL鈥檚 2011 centennial, she started the 鈥淎rt of the Book鈥� exhibit 鈥� now an annual, globally recognized exhibition of artistic bookmaking. More recently, she launched the RPL GO! Bookmobile, serving daycare centers, senior centers, and assisted living facilities across Rochester, and has been an outspoken opponent of book banning nationally.
In retirement, Uttaro is looking forward to relaxation and home projects 鈥� but her bigger hope is to see more people of color pursue MLS degrees, ideally through a program at her own alma mater. 鈥淚 would love to see 91黑料网 Empire step into this ring, and I would love to help with that,鈥� she says, noting that even a bachelor鈥檚 degree in library science would be a meaningful start.
