The Mizzou Libraries are pleased to announce that Heba Abd El Salam has been appointed as the Languages, Literatures and Digital Humanities Librarian. Her work combines librarianship, public history and anthropology, focusing on cultural heritage, migration and community-engaged scholarship. She is deeply committed to public service and education, which informs her approach to research support, teaching, outreach and digital humanities initiatives.
Heba began her library career as a graduate assistant at the undergraduate library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she earned her degree from the School of Library and Information Science and a graduate certificate in digital humanities. During her graduate studies, she led an outreach project that connected immigrant communities with the history, art and culture of North Carolina and directed a multilingual digital exhibition showcasing the history of the Triangle area.
Before pursuing a career in library science, Heba earned a PhD in public history from Middle Tennessee State University and a Master’s degree in anthropology from the University of Central Florida. She has led cultural heritage preservation projects in Egypt and has experience as a program advisor at the American Research Center in Egypt, as well as a cultural heritage consultant at the American School of Overseas Research. Her focus has been on outreach, research and cultural heritage preservation. Additionally, Heba’s professional training includes internships at the British Museum in London and the Center for Cultural Heritage at Heidelberg University in Germany. She also served as a teaching fellow at Duke University.