Combining her love of books and her knowledge of libraries, Sue Sherif introduced thousands of Alaskans to the literary treasures awaiting them in these beloved institutions. She mentored a generation of librarians with training programs, grant projects, and conference sessions, ensuring a legacy of excellent library service for future Alaskans. In addition, Sherif supported a wide array of community services.
Her parents, Muzafer Sherif and Carolyn Wood Sherif, both social psychologists, conducted the famous Robbers Cave experiment in 1954 in Oklahoma, a study of realistic group conflict. Sherif remembers how, during her childhood, her parents always invited religious proselytizers into their home to discuss the proselytizers’ beliefs in light of the older Sherifs’ interest in psychology, which was uncomfortable for Sherif and her two sisters. Her parents’ interest certainly encouraged their daughters’ curiosity and interest in social justice.
Sherif focused on government and politics at the University of Indiana Bloomington and the London School of Economics, then attained her master’s in library science at the University of Wisconsin in 1975 and later, in 1987, an Advanced Certificate in Library and Information studies at the University of California Berkeley. After working in rural public library systems in western North Carolina, in 1979 she became the K-12 school librarian in Healy, Alaska, where she founded the first community library there, her proudest achievement. She joined the staff at the Fairbanks Public Library in 1981 and served in a variety of capacities in her 20-year tenure there. In addition to teaching children’s literature at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and various library services courses via distance delivery under contract from the Alaska State Library, in 1992, she taught university courses and workshops at the University of Iceland as a Library Book Fellow of the American Library Association.
Sherif contributed mightily to early literacy through her work in Fairbanks and as a library development consultant for the Alaska State Library in Anchorage from 2001 – 2014. She was an active member of Authors to Alaska, First Book, the Alaska Center for the Book, and the Alaska Ready to Read program. She arranged author visits to school and public libraries for many years. Sherif supported the statewide summer reading program through public libraries while working for the State Library and served as president of a national organization, the Collaborative Summer Library Program, to promote summer reading in public libraries. Summer reading programs are designed to prevent students’ “summer slide” in reading scores over this annual vacation. Sherif contributed to nationwide literacy efforts by serving on the Caldecott Medal and Coretta Scott King book award committees.
Sherif wrote and implemented a federal grant that recognized the training, planning, and development needs of Alaska Native libraries, archives, and museums. This grant culminated in a strategic plan to assist these organizations as they stepped out into the future and was continued with a half dozen follow-up activities over the next decade. Sherif developed and implemented the Online With Libraries (OWL) Project, which brought more than $8 million in federal funds to subsidize broadband access and help 100 public libraries upgrade their computers, hire IT support staff, and develop an online network for statewide training.
The Alaska Center for the Book recognized her with the Contributions to Literacy Award in Alaska (CLIA) in 2007. In 2013, the Alaska Library Association presented her with the Audrey P. Kolb Public Library Service Award for her contributions. Karen Crane, a former Alaska State Librarian who supervised Sherif in Fairbanks and at the State Library, said: “What I can say is that Sue operates at the extraordinary so consistently that she makes it seem ordinary. Sue has always been a bright light in the Alaska library world.”
After retirement, Sherif turned her energy toward community organizations, including heading the League of Women Voters (LWV) of Tanana Valley and LWV of Alaska and serving as a board member for Guys Read Gals Read Inc. and the Alaska Center for the Book. Earlier community engagement included the Literacy Council of Alaska and the Fairbanks and Alaska Alliance for the Mentally Ill. With Joan Antonson, she co-edited The Alaska Historical Society Guide to Sources for the Study of 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act – Annotated Bibliography (2021), which honored the fiftieth anniversary of this groundbreaking legislation.