HEATHER SHERMAN TO RETIRE
Heather Sherman, a well-known face in the world of libraries and library metadata supply, has decided to take retirement.
She will be leaving her role as Director of Academic Library Operations at BDS at the end of the year.
During her six years at BDS she oversaw the growth of BDS products and services to University and specialist libraries. These developed into UniCat, the streamlined delivery of library-quality metadata from BDS into university library systems. Her role at BDS represented the culmination of a career dedicated to devising, developing and delivering metadata solutions for libraries, especially academic libraries.
Starting Young
Heather began her life-long love of libraries at St Andrews Junior High School in Hull, East Yorkshire. There she helped out in the school library, bookshop and resources centre. Then during her studies for A-levels at Hull College she had a placement at Hull Central Library. She worked in the lending library, local history library, science and reference library, and children’s library.
After graduating with a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from Hatfield Polytechnic (now the University of Hertfordshire), she began her working life at the British Library as a trainee. She arrived at the BL at an exciting time. The new, iconic St Pancras Library was being built. Plans were underway for the most significant move in the library’s long history. While at the BL, Heather worked with the project team, catalogued for the BNB and was an enquiry assistant in the British Museum Round Reading Room.
Literary Manuscripts
It was at the British Library that she discovered her fascination for twentieth century literary manuscripts. This, she says, remains one of the highlights of her career. She particularly enjoyed working on the archive of Lady Diana Cooper’s correspondence.
“Most of Lady Cooper’s friends kept the letters written to them by her, so we have both sides of the correspondence,” comments Heather, who retains her interest to this day. “The letters mainly cover the period immediately before and during the First World War. Many of her correspondents were aristocratic young men who fought in the war. Many never came back.”
She also worked on a Lawrence Binyon archive.
“People may not know his name, but they will know some of his poetry,” says Heather. “He wrote those famous lines, ‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them’.
“Binyon was also a librarian at the British Museum, the forerunner to the British Library.”
Professional Development
Heather continued her professional development at the University of Sheffield where she studied for an MSc in Information Management. Her dissertation was on a hypertext system. In the very early days of the internet, the idea of linking pages of information together was still very new but the ideas she encountered and fostered were to shape her working life going forward.
She took a post as an Assistant Librarian at Dunstable College where she implemented the library’s first computerised library system. She then moved onto the University of Hertfordshire. Between 1993 and 2005, she undertook many roles taking on more and more responsibilities.
A Career Full of Promise
During this time, Heather undertook the development and implementation of diverse aspects of the Voyager library system and became a regular speaker at the international and regional Voyager User Group Meetings. She was elected Chair of the Voyager User Group Committee, and received the award for outstanding service to the Group.
Ending her employment as Systems and Applications Manager at the University of Hertfordshire, Heather began work at Dawson Books in August 2005. She started as Sales Development and Support Manager, moving up to Head of Technical Sales in 2011.
One of her early roles at Dawson Books was the provision of technical support for academic libraries streamlining their acquisitions workflows.
Developing Themes
“It is interesting how certain themes follow you through your career,” reflects Heather. “One of my main preoccupations when working with customers of UniCat today is the streamlining of workflows with regard to the ingestion of BDS metadata into library systems.”
She went on to provide consultancy on behalf of Dawson on streamlining workflows. She also lead on the development of Dawson Books shelf-ready offering. Another significant achievement was to advise Worcester University library on its integration to The Hive, Europe’s first joint university and public library.
It was during her time at Dawson Books that Heather was as Chair of the National Acquisitions Group (NAG) between 2011-2013. In an interview for the NAG journal (https://nag.org.uk/blog/chairs_sherman/), she remembers her association with NAG (an association she renewed in 2020).
Long Association with NAG
“Not long after I joined Dawson Books in 2005 I went to my very first NAG Conference at Keele University. I presented on a joint project I’d worked on with Dawson Books whilst I was still at the University of Hertfordshire. This was to develop a revolutionary new service called ‘Shelf Ready’”.
She sees her work with NAG as embodying the guiding principles of her working life.
“NAG was originally established to share best practice in acquisitions and to promote standards. That’s a thread that’s run through my career.”
When Dawson Books became part of the Bertram Group in early 2015, Heather took on the role of Head of Programme Management.
Product Manager
Among her many successful roles she was Product Manager for the industry-leading BLS-web e-commerce platform. Her work in this important income-generating post evolved from the developmental work Heather had undertaken on dawsonenter in previous years.
Heather’s career addressed important elements in balance: the need for excellent customer relations and efficient systems balanced by income generation. The two elements supported each other.
BDS and UniCat
It was at this point, in June 2020, that Heather joined BDS.
“We needed someone with experience, stature in the sector and professional understanding to launch our new product into the world of academic libraries,” says Lesley Whyte, Managing Director at BDS. “I cannot think of anyone better equipped to do this than Heather Sherman.”
At BDS, Heather began working with academic libraries, supporting them to consolidate and automate metadata for print, ebooks and open access books via BDS’s UniCat service. Libraries primarily adopt UniCat to improve metadata quality, streamline metadata workflows and free up staff to work on other projects that add value to the library and wider institution.
With UniCat firmly established in the marketplace and after six years of bringing her expertise to bear, Heather has now decided it is time to enjoy a well-earned retirement.
Retirement Plans
“In terms of what’s next. I intend to learn more about bookbinding. It’s become a real interest. I can also spend more time exploring traditional knitting. I have a general interest in heritage crafts, so plan on spending more time pursuing that.
“I’ll keep fit by going to Zumba, and salsa dancing with my partner. I also plan to travel. I’m starting in April when my partner and I are going by train to Italy, by way of Paris, Montreux, Lake Garda, and ending in Venice.
Looking Back
“I’ve been fortunate to have been involved in some amazing projects. I’ve worked with many wonderful people, and with some internationally important libraries. I have even spoken at the Royal Institution, in that famous room from where the Christmas Lectures are televised. The library world is such a magical and supportive place to work.
“Things have changed so much since I started work. At that time, most libraries didn’t have an automated system. Users had to search card catalogues organised by author or title to find a book. The first public library I worked in took photographs of a user’s ticket placed on the title page of the book so they knew who had which book and when it was due back!
“Over time, technologies, systems, and standards changed, but the end goal of purchasing and getting books to users efficiently remains the same. I like to think that I have played a part in that.”
From January 2026, Sarah Armitage, Director of Library Sales, will assume the role of your point of contact with regard to existing UniCat accounts and also for new enquiries.
You can contact Sarah at [email protected] or on 07860 324 570.