A smiling Salma-Berrada-El-Azizi in front of a large leaf that is almost as tall as she is. Colorful shapes decorate the background.

Meet Your Lane Library Staff: Salma Berrada El Azizi

Every month, we are spotlighting an amazing member of our library staff. This month meet Salma Berrada El Azizi, Metadata Librarian.

What do you do at the library?

I recently joined the Resource Management team as a metadata librarian, working behind the scenes to make sure materials are available to patrons, all hyperlinks are up to date, and data about our resources are maintained. When new items are acquired, I create catalog records so that they can be found via a quick search.

What did you do before coming to Lane Library?

I led initiatives to create bespoke datasets to fuel the development of voice interfaces, home robots, and IoT devices at Amazon. I have also been consulting for the WHO for many years. I worked on organizing their vast collection of photos, ensuring patient privacy for the digital release of the smallpox eradication program records, and selecting physical documents for preservation in the archives.

What are you most excited about in your new role?

I am excited about helping the library transition to a completely open source community-driven library services platform. This is part of a broader effort to make the ways that we as a library compile and share resources reflect the ideals of collaboration and open access to knowledge. I also look forward to getting to know my colleagues and our users over the course of my tenure.

How long have you worked at Lane?

I’ve been at Lane for about 2 weeks including Thanksgiving break so I am very new here!

What do you do in your spare time?

In my spare time, I love to look after my indoor plants or happily serve as a couch for my cat and read the New Yorker cover to cover. My partner and I also enjoy hiking in the Bay Area and cooking together – whether Moroccan tagine, Italian ricotta, or Indian daal.

Do you prefer . . .

Coffee or tea? One coffee followed by many teas throughout the day, especially mint tea from my native Morocco

Cats or dogs? Cats for now and perhaps dogs someday 

Candy or cake? Cake, especially carrot cake.

Salty or sweet? Both

Print or digital books? Print when possible but digital is my default.

Nonfiction or fiction? Both, I avidly read all of Siddhartha Mukherjee’s articles on medicine and I am currently reading books in French by Annie Ernaux, the latest Nobel Prize winner in Literature.

Summer or winter? Having survived the unforgiving summer sun in Marrakech, I much prefer winter.

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