Elizabeth Yakel

Elizabeth Yakel is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information in the Archives and Records Management specialization. Previously she taught at the University of Pittsburgh and was a practicing archivist for over 15 years. She is active in the Society of American Archivists (SAA) where she has served on the governing Council, was elected Fellow in 1999, and chaired a CEPD Task Force in 2003.

Elizabeth’s research interest is access and accessibility to primary sources. This includes investigations into the design and development of access systems, the information seeking patterns and the human information interaction of users with archival records. She is currently involved in two complementary research projects. The first, “Assessing Access and Accessibility of Interfaces for Primary Sources,” is funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission and examines the usability of archival surrogates in online catalogs and databases of EAD finding aids as well as the information searching strategies of researchers seeking primary sources in the online environment. The second, “Academic Reference Librarians and Extending Access to Primary Sources” is funded by the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) examines the role of reference librarians as gatekeepers to primary sources. Her research combines methodologies from Archives, Library and Information Science, and Human Computer Interaction.

Her third project “Developing Archival Use and User Metrics” is funded by the Mellon Foundation. This project is aimed at standardizing the information archives and special collections collect on use and users. Elizabeth has published in the top archival journals. Recent articles include “AI: Archival Intelligence and User Expertise,” with Deborah A. Torres which appeared in American Archivist and an article called, “Archival Representation,” published in Archival Science. Her forthcoming article, “Midwest State Archives on the Web,” co-authored with Jihyun Kim in Archival Issues analyzes web site design and discusses some of the concepts that will be presented in the SAA workshop “Designing Usable Web Sites.”