Could you please provide us with some background information about yourself?

I was born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt. My passion for information technology developed during my college years. I pursued a bachelor’s degree in library and information sciences from the Faculty of Arts at Alexandria University, and later obtained a post-graduate diploma in Computer Sciences and Information Technology. 

My professional journey began in the 1990s as a librarian. Over the years, I have steadily progressed in my career in the information resources field, and in 2013, I joined EBSCO as the Middle East Publishers Relations Manager.

What are the responsibilities involved in your role as a licensing team member?

As a Publishers Relations Manager for the MENA region, I serve as the primary point of contact and liaison between EBSCO and e-books or journals publishers from my region. 

My tasks encompass a range of duties related to both e-books and academic journals. This includes working closely with our Sales and Product Management teams to find new target publishers from my region, license agreement negotiation and publishers relationship management. 

Building and maintaining positive relationships with publishers is a key aspect of my role. I strive to foster strong connections and open lines of communication, ensuring mutual trust and cooperation.

Could you please explain the process of working with publishers to incorporate their content into our products, such as databases, EBSCO Discovery Service, and new Arabic e-books on our platforms?

The process of integrating content from publishers into our products involves close collaboration and coordination. We work closely with journals and e-books publishers to ensure a seamless integration of their content into our platforms.

Once the publisher signs a new agreement, the publisher Will be assigned to our content management team to arrange for data transfer.  We try to make this process as easy as possible for our publishers. We have a great team, and they guide our partner publishers easily through the process.

Can you provide any updates on the upcoming or ongoing developments in our products?

As part of our commitment to customers in the region, EBSCO has introduced three distinct Arabic products. These include: 

• Arab World Research Source: Al Masdar, which offers access to more than 700 journals. 
• We also have the Arabic: Al-Kotob Subscription Collection, featuring a vast selection of more than 7,700 e-book titles. 
• Additionally, we offer the Arabic Perpetual Access Collection.

Furthermore, our management consistently demonstrates a keen interest in expanding our product offerings to better serve our customers. In addition to these dedicated Arabic products, our international products, such as Academic Search Ultimate and Business Source Ultimate, also incorporate numerous Arabic resources. These products are regularly updated to ensure the availability of the latest content.