Carol Mandel, dean of the New York University Division of Libraries, recently announced that Stephen Shorb has been named the Director of the Library at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), effective August 1, 2009. Shorb comes to NYU from the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), where he has been Dean of the University Library since 2005.
At UNO, Shorb led an expansion and renovation of the main library, stimulated new and expanding electronic library services, and developed innovative partnerships with community cultural and educational organizations, including a highly successful joint venture with artist Jun Kaneko to found a unique library designed expressly to foster creativity.
“We are very fortunate to have found in Stephen Shorb a library director with a unique and ideal combination of U.S. and UAE academic library experience,” said Dean Mandel. “He has the vision, talent, and creativity that match our goals for NYUAD.”
Shorb has also served as Associate Director of the Libraries at University of Florida, Gainesville, University Librarian at the American University of Sharjah, and Library Director and Head of Learning Resource Services for the library system of the Higher Colleges of Technology in the UAE. He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an M.A. in library and information services from the University of Iowa and an M.A. in political science from the University of Florida.
NYU Abu Dhabi will consist of a highly selective liberal arts college, distinctive graduate programs, and a world center for advanced research and scholarship - all fully integrated with each other and connected to NYU in New York. Together, NYU New York and NYU Abu Dhabi will form the backbone of a unique Global Network University, with faculty and students from either New York or Abu Dhabi spending
“semesters away” at one or more of the numerous study abroad sites NYU maintains on five continents. NYU Abu Dhabi’s first students will arrive in fall 2010.
Serving a liberal arts branch campus of a world class research institution, the NYUAD Library will be an outstanding liberal arts college library supporting student learning, faculty teaching, and an intellectually active campus community. It will also be able to support the active research program of NYUAD scholars and the NYUAD Institute because it will be a portal to the enormous resources of the NYU Libraries in Washington Square, including NYU’s collection of nearly 50,000 electronic journals, half a million electronic books, and four million print volumes.