Who We Are
Ariana Sani Hussain
Ariana is a school librarian in the Twin Cities metro area. She has a MLIS and BA in Political Science and History with a minor in Middle East and North African Studies from UCLA.
Ariana is currently serving on the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY), contributing to the 2024 We Are Kid Lit Collective Summer Reading List, and is incoming chair of the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) Literature Awards: Young Adult Book Committee
Ariana has served on several book evaluation committees including: the Walter Dean Myers Award, Rise: A Feminist Book Project, the Stonewall Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award, the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Notable Children’s Books Committee, the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) Literature Awards: Picture Book Committee, and the Middle East Outreach Council (MEOC), Middle East Book Award: Youth Nonfiction. She has also served on the ALSC Board of Directors, the APALA Executive Board, chaired ALSC Grants Administration Committee, and co-chaired the APALA Family Literacy Focus Committee/Talk Story, and was a 2014 ALA Emerging Leader, sponsored by APALA. Ariana has reviewed for Kirkus, Horn Book, and School Library Journal.
A Muslim Indonesian-Okinawan American woman, Ariana wears and accepts the colloquially used term, hijab.
Hadeal Salamah
Hadeal is a former school and children’s librarian in the DC Metro area. She currently reviews books for multiple journals, including Kirkus and Shelf Awareness and consults on Muslim representation in youth literature. She holds a BA in English and MLIS from Dominican University.
Hadeal is currently serving on the jury of the 2024 Walter Awards. Because of her role on the jury, Hadeal will not be commenting on, posting, contributing, or participating in discussion of any Walter eligible 2023 published books.
Hadeal has served on several book evaluation committees including: the Newbery Award, the Walter Award, the APALA Literature Awards: Children’s Literature and Picture Books Committees, the Stonewall Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award, and the Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) Monarch Committee. Hadeal has also served as co-chair of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Building Partnerships Committee.
Hadeal identifies as a Muslim Palestinian Arab-American woman who wears and accepts the colloquially used term, hijab. She was born and raised in Illinois. She is passionate about connecting books with readers. Hadeal enjoys talking, reading, dancing, singing (badly), and eating chocolate. She is loud, cheerful and committed to helping children and their families find the resources they need to succeed!
Mahasin Abuwi Aleem
Mahasin is a library services manager in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her previous positions include Branch Manager, Collection Management Librarian for Children’s Services, and Children’s Librarian. Prior to working in libraries, she taught middle and high school social studies and also worked for non-profits. Mahasin earned an BA in Political Science from Brown University and her MLIS from San Jose State University’s School of Information.
In 2016, she was selected as an ALA Spectrum Scholar and also received the California Library Association’s Begun Scholarship, which is awarded to library school students who demonstrate a commitment to becoming children’s or young adult librarians in a California public library.
Mahasin has served on the 2022 and 2023 Coretta Scott King Award.
Mahasin has served on the ALSC Membership Committee. Mahasin formerly served as co-Secretary of the Association of Children’s Librarians of Northern California (ACL). She is a member of the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA), the California Library Association (CLA) and EMIERT.
A native Georgian who reps the Peach State whenever she can, Mahasin is a second-generation African American Muslim. She prefers the use of the Quranic Arabic term “khimar”, or the English “headscarf”, to refer to her own crown, historically used terms in some African American Muslim communities. Mahasin loves working with children and their families and developing culturally-responsive, participatory library programs. “Sweet tea”, family hikes in the Redwoods, and long laughs with good friends bring her joy.
Nada Abdelrahim
Nada is currently a Youth Programming Librarian in the Chicago suburbs and a recent graduate from the MSLIS program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She also holds a BS in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Nada has previously written for Off-Kilter Magazine, Runwayaddicts, Performance! for the Society of American Archivists, and Brainchild.
Nada identifies as Muslim Palestinian-American and uses the pronouns she/her. In her spare time she enjoys traveling, K-dramas, video games and making books.
Our Past and Present Contributors
Sara Ahmed
Sara is a General Services librarian in Pennsylvania where she provides programming for millennials, catalogs children’s material, does reference, and reader’s advisory. She previously worked at the medical library for Drexel University. She obtained her BA in Biology with a minor in Psychology from Temple University and her MLIS at Drexel.
Sara was selected as an American Library Association (ALA) Emerging Leader for 2014. In 2016, she was an International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) National Committee Fellowship Grant recipient. She served as a panel participant on the ‘No Room at the Library: The Ethics of Diversity Panel’ in 2016 and presented a poster on Millennial programming at the 2017 IFLA conference. She has also served as an intern for the ALA Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services (ODLOS) Committee, as a member of the IRC Europe Committee, and on the PLA Continuing Education Committee.
Sara is currently serving as the representative from Hijabi Librarians to the Little Free Libraries Diverse Books Advisory Group for their Read in Color initiative.
Sara identifies as a Muslim Egyptian American woman who wears and accepts the colloquially used term, hijab. In her spare time, Sara enjoys hanging out with family and friends, reading, binge-watching shows, trying new foods, traveling and running. She is an active Bookstagramer and YouTuber. She aims to share her passion for reading and her slight (although not really) obsession of Harry Potter with as many people as possible.
Amna Hussain
Amna Hussain is a library technician working in Mississauga, Canada. She has worked in school, public, and special libraries. She has a honours BA in Communications and Sociology from the University of Toronto.
Amna has a passion for library programming for all ages and has served as a school liaison, organized author visits, and currently runs a virtual Urdu storytime for her library system. Amna loves reader’s advisory and sharing books she is currently enjoying – ranging from children’s materials to books for adults. Amna is a member of the Ontario Library Association.
Amna identifies as a Muslim Pakistani-Canadian woman, who wears and accepts the colloquially used term, hijab. Her pronouns are she/her/hers. Amna enjoys family time, crafts, and baking.
Fatoma Rad
Fatoma Rad is the Acquisitions Librarian at Farmingdale State College. She oversees the Library Liaison Program, is the head of the Collection Development, and manages the Library’s social media accounts. Prior to Farmingdale State College, she was the Special Projects Librarian at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s Medical Library. She earned her MS LIS from Pratt Institute and her MA in Higher Education Administration from Stony Brook University.
Noureen Qadir Jafar
Noureen is a youth services librarian in the New York metro area. Starting her library journey as a clerk in a public library, Noureen found that librarianship matched her love of books and outreach with a rewarding career path. She completed her MLIS at Queens College, NY while raising her two young children. Noureen has a BS in Health & Society and minor in Psychology from SUNY Old Westbury College.
Noureen is a member of the New York Library Association and the Nassau County Library Association (NCLA), where she currently serves as treasurer of the Media Services Division. She is also active in the Children’s, Membership, Emerging Librarians, Staff of Color Committees, and divisions of NCLA.
As a children’s librarian, Noureen is passionate about youth programming, community outreach, and reader’s advisory — guiding her patrons to find their next literary adventure. Noureen is a book reviewer for School Library Journal. Born and raised in Pakistan, Noureen loves reviewing picture books, particularly those related to South Asian and Muslim backgrounds that reflect her own heritage. She wears and accepts the colloquially used term, hijab. She enjoys traveling with friends and family, nature walks, experimenting with cooking recipes, DIY projects, and watching suspenseful movies with her children.
About the Artist
Hannah Kim
Hannah (Young) Kim is the artist behind the logos on Hijabi Librarians. An architect and artist by training and passion, her greatest artistic and architectural influences are Mies van der Rohe; Takeshi Ohgushi, and lalayena, to name just a few. Hannah identifies as a Korean American woman, and has spent significant time abroad. This has led her to record her experiences and develop her artistic taste and spatial awareness. A creative creator and aspiring illustrator, more of Hannah’s work can be viewed or commissioned on her Instagram @artsbyhannahk