Charles Russell Sage was born November 14, 1934, in Newark, New Jersey. He received his B.S. (1960) in mathematics and physics from Fairleigh-Dickinson University.



Sage arrived in Ames, Iowa, when he accepted the position of Senior Systems Analyst (1962-1967) at the Ames Laboratory. Sage was then appointed Assistant Professor (1969-1982) and Coordinator of Automated Library Services (1969-1974). This position was a joint appointment with the Iowa Board of Regents Universities (University of Iowa, Iowa State University, and University of Northern Iowa) and reported to the Interinstitutional Library Committee. With his office in the ISU Library, Sage was responsible for carrying out a systematic and on-going study of automation requirements for the three institutions and to make recommendations for coordinated library systems development.



In 1974, Sage assumed the position of Lead Systems Analyst for the ISU Library. In this position, he led the installation, enhancement, and maintenance of numerous public and staff systems in the Library, including the early circulation system, the local Serials Catalog, data conversions associated with two online catalog systems, a film catalog and management system, local and evolving budget and accounting systems, a donor/gift database, and hourly payroll systems. Sage was promoted to Professor (1982-2000) and Manager of Information Systems for the Library and Computation Center. He retired in 2000.