Sherrill Cheda

Sherrill Cheda ( Schneider) (February 15, 1936 – June 7, 2008) was an American-born Canadian librarian, feminist writer and arts administrator. She worked in a number of academic libraries in the United States and Canada before serving as chief librarian at Seneca College.

In addition to writing for Chatelaine, she co-founded and edited Emergency Librarian, a publication focused on feminist issues in librarianship, with Phyllis Yaffe. Following her position at Seneca, she worked at the Canadian Periodical Publishers Association and the Ontario Arts Council before taking a position with the Ontario Ministry of Culture and Communications.

Early life and education Cheda was born Sherrill Schneider in Osgood, Indiana on February 15, 1936. Her father, Abraham, was a Russian Jew who had traveled on foot from Kyiv to Hamburg to escape the pogroms that followed the Russian Revolution. He eventually settled in Indiana where he married Myrtle Stout. Cheda was the eldest of their four children. She graduated from high school as valedictorian and was the first member of the family to receive a university education. They landed in Vancouver, British Columbia where she worked in library roles at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. The couple was married from 1969 to 1975 during which time they relocated to Toronto, Ontario. For a time, Cheda worked in the Indian-Eskimo Association of Canada's library before becoming chief librarian at Seneca College.

After leaving her position at Seneca College, Cheda served as executive director of the Canadian Periodical Publishers Association. Titled "That Special Little Mechanism," the talk explored barriers faced by women in the profession "as well as suggestions for actions to overcome masculine mystique" that she felt "is a device that prevents women from full participation in the library world." It served as a response to the conference theme "Librarians: beginning, middle and end of career." York University offers a scholarship in Cheda's name, aimed at supporting incoming women's studies graduate students.

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