Thinking Inside and Outside the Boxes: Archival Reference Services at the Turn of the Century

  • Elizabeth Yakel

Abstract

This article looks at reference service as a form of knowledge management that assists organizations and individuals in the knowledge creation and organizational learning processes. It proposes reorienting reference activities from an information provision or document delivery process to a knowledge creation process through an examination of four contexts in which reference archivists work: context of reference services, context of referees (or users), context of the records or primary sources, and context of reference personnel.

RÉSUMÉ

Cet article examine le service de référence comme une forme de gestion de la connaissance pouvant aider les organisations et les individus en matière de création de connaissances et de processus d’apprentissage organisationnel. Il suggère de réorienter les activités de référence de fournisseur d’information ou de livraison de document vers un processus de création de connaissances par le truchement d’un examen de quatre contextes dans lesquels s’exerce le travail des archivistes de référence: contextedes services de référence, contexte des répondants (ou utilisateurs), contexte des documents ou sources primaires, et contexte du personnel de référence.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Yakel
Elizabeth Yakel is currently an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Information. Previously, she worked as research assistant for the Medical Collaboratory Project at the University of Michigan. She has also taught at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Information Sciences. Past archival positions include director of the Maryknoll Mission Archives and project archivist for the National Historical Publications and Records Commission-funded Technical Assistance Project in New York City. Her primary areas of research are electronic record-keeping systems and the evaluation of user needs. Dr. Yakel is a contributor to Vatican Archives: An Inventory and Guide to the Historical Documentation of the Holy See, the author of Starting an Archives, and several articles on the administrative use of archives. She is active professionally and has been a council member of the Society of American Archivists. She was elected a Fellow of the Society in 1999.
Published
2000-02-18
How to Cite
Yakel, Elizabeth. 2000. “Thinking Inside and Outside the Boxes: Archival Reference Services at the Turn of the Century”. Archivaria 49 (February), 140-60. https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/12742.
Section
Articles