Council Exemplary Service Award: Archival Metrics Research Investigators

Society of American Archivists

Council Exemplary Service Award

Honoring

 Elizabeth Yakel, Wendy Duff, and Helen Tibbo, 
Archival Metrics Research Investigators

WHEREAS Archival Metrics has set a model for the archives profession to evaluate and understand the impact of archives in society; and 

WHEREAS Through the expert leadership of its principal investigator, Professor Elizabeth Yakel (University of Michigan), and co-investigators Professor Wendy Duff (University of Toronto) and Professor Helen Tibbo (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), Archival Metrics has pioneered the development of user-based evaluation toolkits for assessing the impact of archives and their archival services and tools; and 

WHEREAS Archival Metrics promoted a culture of assessment in the profession with its creation of survey questionnaires and other performance measures that assist archivists in measuring and articulating the value and impact of their tools and services; and 

WHEREAS Archival Metrics has produced seven easy-to-use, publicly available, user-based evaluation toolkits that cover a broad range of archival services and tools (online finding aids, repository websites and access tools, student orientations, use of archives in teaching and instruction, economic impact of government archives, and use of the focus group method in data collection); and 

WHEREAS The user-based evaluation toolkits developed by Archival Metrics and the findings generated through the continued use of these toolkits have helped archivists make evidence-based decisions to improve archival programs, services, and resources for their users; and

WHEREAS This group of scholars, throughout the duration of the Archival Metrics project, have mentored junior scholars to widen the pool of researchers who continue to engage in the area of user-based evaluation and assessment in the field;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Archival Metrics project and its principal investigators, Professor Wendy Duff (University of Toronto), Professor Helen Tibbo (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill), and Professor Elizabeth Yakel (University of Michigan), be honored with a 2020 SAA Council Exemplary Service Award.