Access Unlocked 

Inspired to pursue librarianship by the range of services provided at her local public library, Zeineb Yousif has worked tirelessly to promote digital access to her university’s research and collections.

“I loved the idea of having a job where I could help lots of different people while getting to regularly try doing something new,” she says.

Yousif was hired as the inaugural digital initiatives librarian at the Chester Fritz Library at the University of North Dakota (UND) in 2016, tasked with getting their institutional repository (IR) off the ground and promoting open access to scholarly resources. Under her leadership, UND’s IR has compiled nearly 30,000 digital objects, including theses and dissertations, research data sets, and a complete inventory of the university’s art collection. Work has begun on 3-D scanning more than 40,000 fossils for the geology department. Yousif also develops policies and guides for the IR, manages digitization projects, and works on digital exhibitions.

Because she works at a state university, Yousif’s goal is to provide the public with access to the research they fund.

“So much valuable research is locked behind paywalls, and it’s unfortunate for everyone involved,” she says. “No one goes into academia wanting their research to only be read by a few people!”

Her passion for promoting access and inclusivity has also led her to work on initiatives like readers’ advisory blog posts highlighting authors from marginalized communities; digitizing Lakota-language materials by working with members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe through a National Archives and Records Administration grant; and leading workshops for graduate students on using digital scholarship tools.