Middle East Chapter Officers
2024 Officers & Advisors
Chair: Reham Alshaheen
Past Chair: Güleda Doğan
Chair-Elect: Farraj Alsaeedi
Secretary & Treasurer: Habibi Mamone
Webmaster & Social Media: Elif Öztop
Membership Officer: Ayça Nur Sezen
Communications Officer: Ezgi Uğurlu
Middle East Advisors: Dania Bilal & Emil Levine
Chair: Reham Alshaheen
Dr. Reham Alshaheen serves as a Teaching Assistant at the Department of Information Studies at Kuwait University (KU) and is currently a visiting scholar at Simmons University in Boston, USA.
She earned her PhD from Simmons University, where her dissertation was recognized as one of the ten notable dissertations of the year by American Libraries in 2019. She also holds a master's degree with honors in Library and Information Science (LIS), and a bachelor's degree with honors in Mass Communications and English Language and Literature, both from KU. Her research primarily focuses on the user experience and information architecture of apps and websites.
In addition to her academic and professional endeavors, Dr. Alshaheen is deeply committed to community service. She has organized numerous workshops aimed at enhancing information skills in both educational institutions and non-profit organizations. She is a firm believer in the transformative power of knowledge sharing and information literacy for societal advancement.
Past Chair: Güleda Doğan
Dr. Güleda Doğan is an Associate Professor at Hacettepe University in the Department of Information Management. She holds an undergraduate degree in Statistics and focused her PhD studies on university rankings. Her research in this field continues even today. Currently, she is leading a national project that aims to promote responsible university rankings.
With 12 years of editorial experience in a Turkish library science journal, Dr. Güleda Doğan has a strong background in academic publishing. She also serves on the editorial board of ARIST.
Dr. Güleda Doğan is a co-founder of the Scholarly Communication Network, a platform dedicated to fostering collaboration and communication within the young scholarly community.
Chair-Elect: Farraj Alsaeedi
Secretary & Treasurer: Habibi Mamone
Habibi Mamone is working towards a Doctorate (PhD) degree in Information Science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She also earned her Master of Science (MS) in Information Science and Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Language and World Business with a concentration in Supply Chain from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She is expected to graduate May, 2025. Her research area is artificial intelligence implemented in enterprise resource planning systems in the industry.
Her passion lies in streamlining operations through process improvements, ERP system implementations, and strong KPIs while leveraging her expertise in procurement, budget control, strategic planning, inventory control, and international business development. Throughout her career, she has focused on continually improving processes while driving change, expanding market share, and boosting revenue. Ms. Mamone has an exceptional record of leading teams and building organizations from the ground up.
Webmaster & Social Media: Elif Öztop
Elif Öztop works as a Reference Librarian at Bilkent University Library. She holds a bachelor's degree in Information and Records Management and an associate degree in Web Design and Coding. She is pursuing her master's degree in Information and Records Management. Her research focuses on enhancing user experience, improving library services, and supporting technology integration.
Throughout her career, she has worked on projects to ensure users benefit from library services as efficiently as possible. Adopting a user-centered service approach, Elif actively integrates artificial intelligence and other technological tools into library processes.
Membership Officer: Ayça Nur Sezen
Communications Officer: Ezgi Uğurlu
Ezgi Uğurlu works as a Reference Librarian at Bilkent University Library and also serves as the faculty librarian for the Faculty of Art, Design, and Architecture. She completed her undergraduate education in the Department of Information Management at Hacettepe University and is currently pursuing her master's degree in the same department. Within the scope of her master's thesis, she is examining the job transition processes of information management graduates.
Having graduated at the undergraduate level in 2018, Uğurlu served as an educator with the title of Training Specialist until 2022, taking responsibility for user training on databases sold by a distributor firm.
Middle East Advisors
Dr. Dania Bilal
Dr. Dania Bilal is a Professor at the School of Information Sciences, The University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. Her research sits at the intersection of human information behavior, human-computer interaction, human-AI Interaction, and information retrieval. She has published four books and over 125 publications and made numerous presentations at the national and international levels. Her research focuses on children and youth information behavior and interaction with technologies, unveiling their cognitive and affective experiences. Her research led to a breakthrough in understanding the differences and similarities between children’s and adults; information behavior in using web search engines, which attracted the media at the national and international levels. Her most recent research includes using humanoid robots to facilitate the delivery of reminiscence therapy to older adults with dementia; and user voice switching behavior in digital assistants, including the embodiment of voice interfaces (EVIs) in images of people of diverse and multicultural backgrounds. She received numerous awards, including The Association of Information Science & Technology SIG USE 2017 Outstanding Contributions to Information Behavior Research, The 2014 Google Faculty Development Research Award, The Association of Information Science & Technology 2008 SIG USE Book-of-The-Year Award, The Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) 2007 Excellence in Teaching Award, and two research awards from the College of Communication and Information. She is the Principal Investigator (PI) on the IDEA (Innovation, Disruption, Enquiry, Access) Institute on Artificial Intelligence (AI), funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Her research has also been funded by Google, Inc., and Eugene Garfield Foundation, among others.
Emil Levine
Member since 1970s. Chair several SIGs and EC Chapter. Board Member (SIG Representative). ASIS&T Watson Davis Award, 2017. Bulletin Editorial Staff. Member EC, SA, AP, and ME chapters. MLS University of Maryland, MBAs American University and USC. BA Journalism. Author Information Science: Law Enforcement Applications. Employment US Navy, US Drug Enforcement Administration, UN International Atomic Energy Agency and UN United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Librarian), Vienna. American residing in Austria.