Metadata Unit

library associate 1, Resource Description Metadata Specialist

Wessam M. Samir Badawy

Wessam is responsible for creating and enhancing descriptive metadata records for the libraries’ digital collections primarily hosted in the University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC). He reviews and creates metadata in both the MARC record environment and via spreadsheets, for digital projects coming primarily from the Smathers Libraries and including cooperative projects with partner departments and institutions. He previously worked at the Library of Congress Cairo Overseas Office as a Lead Serials Librarian, Deputy of Serials Section Head and before that he worked with a Consulting Engineering Company as a Librarian. He has strong language skills in cataloging Arabic materials specially Serials. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Cairo, Egypt at the Cairo University – Department of Documentation, Librarianship & Information Technology.

Library Associate 2, Bilingual Metadata Specialist

Rose Echeguren, MLIS

Rose is responsible for creating and improving metadata descriptions for the libraries' diverse collections in Spanish and English, ensuring optimal user access, and upholding data accuracy and consistency within the University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC) and collaborative projects. Furthermore, Rose collaborates with internal team members and external partners to align existing Spanish language materials with new standards, contributing to the development and maintenance of a comprehensive Spanish language thesaurus. The UF Interim Library Facility (ILF), Room 146, Phone: (352) 294-1799.

Library Associate 1, Complex Metadata Associate

Pamela Handley

Pam helps to lead large scale metadata enhancement projects and creates metadata records for library press, UF programs and UF faculty publications in the University of Florida Digital Collections. She conducts metadata quality control for all types of content and collaborates on bibliographic maintenance. She provides quality images to inside and outside patrons as requested. Pam has a degree in Computer Systems from St. Leo University, certified as a Digital Archives Specialist from the Society of American Archivists and received the George A. Smathers Libraries Employee Excellence Award for Outstanding Accomplishments Behind the Scenes in 2024. The UF Interim Library Facility (ILF), Room 142, Phone 352-273-2593.

Metadata Librarian, Head, Metadata Unit

Xiaoli Ma, MSI, MA

Xiaoli leads the automation of metadata creation that leverages the latest technology, manages the Metadata Unit, coordinates legacy metadata cleanups, and supports the further development of the UFDC platform with expert knowledge of metadata-related functional requirements. The UF Interim Library Facility (ILF), Room 140, Phone: (352) 273-2542

Metadata Specialist

G.W. Swicord, MA

G.W.’s interest in digital content began before the .com era and led him to a bachelor’s in political science from New College of Florida. He took his master’s in government at UT Austin, with a research focus on digital health information policy. Before joining the Libraries, he created and edited software training materials for Microsoft products and taught as an adjunct associate professor at Santa Fe College. He started with the Libraries as an assistant for the Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Scanning project and eventually became project manager for all projects required for degree completion coming into the UF Electronic Theses and Dissertations collection. Currently, his focus is mainly on developing and improving workflows and automation for metadata creation remediation in that collection.