John P. Culshaw '86

John P. Culshaw is university librarian at the University of Iowa. As university librarian, Culshaw leads the libraries in providing exceptional library collections, services, and spaces to the university community. The University Libraries at Iowa ranks among the top 30 libraries at public research universities in North America. Prior to his appointment at Iowa in 2013, Culshaw was a member of the University Libraries faculty at the University of Colorado Boulder for nearly 22 years, serving most recently as professor and senior associate dean of libraries.

John received his B.A. in history from the UW-Parkside in 1986, pursued additional graduate study in history at Marquette University, and earned an MS degree in information studies from Drexel University. He is the co-author of Managing Information Technology: A Handbook for Systems Librarians (Libraries Unlimited, 2004) and has presented widely on topics related to library information technology and managing libraries for the future. He was twice elected chair of the international Innovative Users Group and in 2014 was elected to the Board of Directors of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). He is also a 2012 alumnus of the Research Library Leadership Fellows (RLLF) program sponsored by the Association of Research Libraries.

Travel ranks high among John's hobbies. He has visited all 50 states and a whirlwind trip to Mumbai, India, is a recent travel highlight. He resides with his husband, Michael Marcus, in Iowa City, Iowa.