I am a Lebanese Kurd. My grandparents moved to Lebanon in the 1920s and 1930s from very poor villages of Northern Kurdistan. Unlike my parents, I and all my seven siblings received formal education. Because of financial reasons, however, my parents were only able to send us to public schools, which, at the time (mid-1970s through the 1980s), were marred with problems ranging from lack of teachers and resources to control by various militia groups. Luckily, after high school, I received a full scholarship from the Hariri Foundation that allowed me to learn English and attend the American University of Beirut (AUB) to study agriculture. Without this scholarship, I don’t think I would have attended college. After three years in agriculture, I transferred to political studies and completed the Bachelor degree in 1991. While working as a freelance bibliographer in the following year, I applied for the Master's program in political studies at AUB and was offered full graduate assistantship by the department. I completed the degree in December 1995.

Since my early teenage years, I had interest in reading history and geography books. My interest in librarianship started after reading a comment in a book that claimed there was not much written about the Kurds. As a result, I became curious whether this was a fact or just a lack of knowledge on the part of the author about the published literature on the Kurds. So, on the first day of classes in college, I decided to apply for a job at the main library (Jafet Library) to develop my searching and information retrieval skills and, subsequently, identify and disseminate information about the published literature on the Kurds and Kurdistan. I started working in Jafet in October 1986.

My work in Jafet and the education I received at AUB were turning points in my life and career, providing me with excellent opportunities, experience, skills, and knowledge in retrieving, filtering, and organizing information. Recognizing the significance and value of access to information for research, I decided to compile and publish as many annotated bibliographies on the Kurds and Kurdistan as possible. So far, I published three, each of which contains annotations to over 800 books, journal articles, chapters in books, and dissertations. I also published two comprehensive bibliographies on topics related to the Arab world: Libraries and Information in the Arab World (1999) and Censorship in the Arab World (2006). All books are published in the U.S. by reputable publishers.

While completing my Master’s degree in political studies, I was encouraged by the reference librarians at Jafet to pursue a Master degree in library science in the U.S. Neither I nor my parents were able to afford paying for my education in the U.S. When attempts to secure funding from friends, relatives, and organizations failed, my father decided to sell his car and provide all his savings to send me to school in the U.S. It was not an easy decision to make or agree with, especially because, with his little and unstable income and lack of any other financial resources, my father still had to support the family. I was accepted at five different library and information science schools. I decided to attend North Carolina Central University (NCCU) because it was the most affordable and was located near two of the best universities in the United States--Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC).

I started at NCCU in January 1996. After completing the MLS degree in two semesters, I felt I needed to learn more before I return to Lebanon and work at Jafet Library. Having no money left with me (even for rent and food), I asked the Dean at NCCU, Professor Benjamin Speller, if I can teach in return for allowing me to take an additional course and receive a stipend. Fortunately, he agreed. While teaching, I was encouraged by faculty members at NCCU to pursue a doctoral degree at UNC. A few weeks after I applied, I was offered admission with a 50% scholarship and a condition that I show evidence that I have enough money in the bank to support myself in the next three years. It was only thanks to the Assistant Dean at NCCU, Duane Bogenschneider, who volunteered to be my sponsor in case I needed any financial support, that I was able to attend the PhD program at UNC. After doing well during my first year, UNC offered me full assistantship in my second, third, and last year in the program. While studying at UNC, I continued to teach and do research. Before completing my doctoral degree, I accepted, in April 2001, a faculty position at the School of Information Science and Policy (SISP) of the University at Albany, State University of New York. Later that year, I successfully defended my dissertation and received the Ph.D. degree. After three years at SISP as an Assistant Professor, I decided to join the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at Indiana University-Bloomington.

My achievements since I came to the U.S. are thanks to the support I received and continue to receive from many people, including: my parents, the late Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafik Hariri, AUB, former Dean at NCCU Professor Benjamin Speller, Assistant Dean at NCCU Duane Bogenschneider, my faculty advisor at UNC Professor Helen Tibbo, former Dean at UNC Professor Barbaba Moran, former Dean and mentor at SISP Professor Philip Eppard, the Dean at SLIS-IU Professor Blaise Cronin who significantly influenced my research skills and progress, and my colleagues at SLIS-IU.