Zaineb Choukrani

Zaineb Choukrani is a fourth-year graduate student at Ecole des Sciences de l'Information (ESI) in Rabat, Morocco. She knows Arabic, Amazigh, English, French, and a little Spanish. Her studies so far have included library and information sciences and new technologies. This year’s studies will include information systems management, and American literature in faculty of letters in Rabat. Zaineb already has accomplished much in her professional career, including organizing and participating in several cultural and scholarly activities, such as The Green BESI, which celebrated Earth Day by addressing environmental issues with her fellow ESI students; and The Great Debaters Morocco, an interschool debate competition that not only encourages debate and discusses major issues, but also is designed to improve the public speaking skills of future leaders of Morocco. Moreover, Zaineb created and administers a Facebook group called “Bibliothécaires du MAROC = MOROCCAN Librarians,” which she created specifically for librarians, archivists, book publishers, and others to discuss ideas and provide information and resources of interest to all members. She posts many resources for her group, particularly those on new technologies related to libraries and information sciences. In addition, Zaineb has created a blog called “The Moroccan Librarian,” dedicated to the spirit of Alberto Manguel’s response to the question “What is a library?”: “The library is a sort of autobiography in which we can read ourselves and others can read us.” In brief, Zaineb is a strong proponent of the importance and necessity of libraries throughout the world, information literacy, competitive intelligence, archiving, and bringing people together with the information they need and want. In short, Zaineb is passionate about reading, libraries and new technologies.