September 13, 2006
Professor Arthur Sherman, a sixteen year veteran of the
University Libraries of St. John’s University, is passionate about
education and life-long learning. After receiving a
bachelor’s degree in English from Manhattan College, he went on to
earn master's degrees in both library science and history from
Queens College of the City University of New York. Most
recently, Arthur completed a third graduate degree in theology at
the Archdiocese of New York’s Institute of Religious Studies, and
he can still be found auditing graduate English courses at St.
John’s.
Prof. Sherman has varied experience as a librarian, having served
in the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen Library and in
branches of the Brooklyn Public Library and the Queens Public
Library systems. He came to St. John’s in 1990 as a reference
librarian, but for the last fourteen years has been the University
Libraries’ Coordinator of Acquisitions, supervising a staff of
three in the ordering and processing of books and audiovisual
material for the Queens, Staten Island and Rome campus
collections. He has reinvigorated the library’s gift and
exchange program, establishing connections with educational
institutions in developing countries to which the university has
sent thousands of volumes of books. Prof. Sherman has also
been responsible for organizing a number of the library’s recent
books sales.
Prof. Sherman has served on many committees within the University
Libraries and is currently a member of the University
Personnel Committee and the Library Exhibits
Committee. In addition, he is chair of the
Library’s Programming Workgroup which organizes musical
performances, poetry readings, film series and lectures in an
effort to enrich the intellectual life at the University,
with the Library as the centerpiece of campus cultural and
intellectual activities.
Beyond his professional responsibilities, Prof. Sherman has been
active in a number of regional library organizations. At
present, he is on the board of the Metropolitan Catholic College
Librarians Chapter of the Catholic Library Association and some
years ago served as treasurer of the New York chapter of the
Association of College and Research Libraries. Prof.
Sherman has also contributed material to a number of reference
books, including Biographical dictionary of American and
Canadian naturalists and environmentalists (ed. Keir B.
Sterling...[et.al]., Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1997)
and The 1890's: an encyclopedia of British literature, art
and culture (ed. G.A. Cevasco, New York: Garland,
1993).
In his free time, Prof. Sherman enjoys listening to and reading
about Jazz music. He plans to utilize this knowledge in an upcoming
library exhibit about jazz greats from the borough of Queens.