Jerry Stephens

Librarian and Director, Mervyn H. Sterne Library, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Jerry Stephens has worked at the University of Alabama at Birmingham since 1974, and has been Librarian and Director of the Mervyn H. Sterne Library since 1985. While at the Sterne Library, he has also served as Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs. He has been an active member of the School of Business, Department of Accounting faculty since 1991, teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses.

Jerry helped establish the Network of Alabama Academic Libraries in 1984, the first statewide library consortia to treat public and nonprofit private institutions as equal partners. He also played a leadership role in the implementation of the Alabama Virtual Library, a set of electronic databases available for K-12, postsecondary and higher education institutions and public libraries. In 2008 he received the Significant Contribution Award from the Alabama Association of College & Research Libraries Executive Board.

Jerry also has been a member of several boards, councils and committees, including the Southeastern Library Network Board, numerous Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation teams and the Library Service Construction Act Advisory Council for the Alabama Public Library Service. He joined the OCLC Board of Trustees in 2002.

Jerry received a BS in accounting in 1974 and an MBA in 1976 from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and an MLS in 1977 and a PhD in administration in higher education in 1982 from the University of Alabama.