The types of robes you find are surprisingly weak. You might be able to disenchant one and then as your enchantment skills grow, create better ones. But I really don't know if that works. Even the Arch-Mage robes are weak. They look cool and they're certainly helpful, but they're not a corrolloary on the order of something as effective as ebony armor--which they should be. Not that they shold give you that armor rating but they should do more than they do.
As for finding them, I've rarely found better than Adept type robes at any level that I've reached (around 50).