Dear colleagues,

The *American Archivist* Editorial Board *invites proposal submissions for
a special section in American Archivist, illuminating the wide-ranging
spectrum of user experience topics and initiatives in the archives field
today*.

The revised DACS Principles set the expectation that archivists center
users in their work, but User Experience has not always had a strong
presence in archival literature or in archival work. While acknowledging
that multiple articles have been published over the last couple of decades
regarding online finding aids and the encoding standard EAD, further and
more expansive explorations of User Experience in the archives have been
limited. The need for continued research into how users experience archives
-- their description and content --remains.

Archivists have a wide range of questions regarding user experience and the
archival experience such as: how do marginalized individuals experience
archival research? How do we smooth the tension between preservation and
access? How do we make it easier for new researchers to read handwritten
manuscripts, or understand the language used in the context of official
documents from bygone eras? How do we seamlessly bridge collections across
institutions? What practices no longer serve us, or may even conflict with
our wider goals? These are just a few questions that might be explored
in *American
Archivist*, and answers might move our profession forward, lead to new
discoveries, and make everyone's work a little more joyful.

In order to review and answer these questions, *American Archivist* will
dedicate a Special Section on User Experience for its 2026 Spring/Summer
issue. The goal of this special section is to showcase the importance of
this work to the wider archival community. As part of efforts to create a
community of practice and to foster equitable, long-term professional and
institutional support for user experience work, the special section's
editorial team hopes to initiate a dialogue within the profession about
best practices in designing and evaluating the research environments we
create. Whether these spaces are physical or digital, our goal is to
facilitate access, discovery, and use of primary source materials.

Proposal submissions can explore the many facets of user experience in the
archival field, including but not limited to:

   - Participatory Design Practice
   - Case Studies in UX Design in Archives
   - User Experience Research Findings
   - Usability Studies
   - Marginalized Populations' Experiences with Archival Research
   - UX Research Methods Overview
   - Presenting UX Research to Leadership
   - Literature Reviews

We seek submissions from authors with a variety of career experiences and
diverse perspectives related to user experience work. The editorial team
especially encourages submissions from first-time authors and early-career
archives and special collections professionals, as well as from colleagues
working in nonprofit organizations; HBCU
<https://sites.ed.gov/whhbcu/one-hundred-and-five-historically-black-colleges-and-universities/>
s, AANAPISI <https://www2.ed.gov/programs/aanapi/index.html>s, and/or HSI
<https://sites.ed.gov/hispanic-initiative/hispanic-serving-institutions-hsis/>s;
public libraries; museums; and community archives.

Proposals should include a tentative title and an abstract of no more than
500 words. Please indicate whether your article will fall into one of the
following forms:

   -

   *Research Articles:* analytical and critical expositions based on
   original investigation or on systematic review of literature. (Suggested
   length: 8,000 words)
   -

   *Case Studies:* analytical reports of projects or activities that take
   place in a specific setting and offer the basis for emulation or comparison
   in other settings. (Suggested length: 3,000 words)
   -

   *Perspectives:* commentaries, reflective or opinion pieces, addressing
   issues or practices that concern archivists and their constituents.
   (Suggested length: 2,000-2500 words)
   -

   *Professional Resources:* can be annotated bibliographies, other items
   designed for practical use within the profession, or essays that review the
   developments (as opposed to the literature) in specified areas in a way
   that describes particular initiatives and places them in the context of
   broader trends. (Length varies)

*American Archivist <https://meridian.allenpress.com/american-archivist>* is
the peer-reviewed, semi-annual journal of the Society of American
Archivists. Established in 1938, the journal seeks to reflect thinking
about theoretical and practical developments in the archival profession;
the relationships between archivists and the creators and users of
archives; and cultural, social, legal, and technological developments that
affect the nature of recorded information and the need to create and
maintain it.

Proposals will be reviewed by the editorial team, following *American
Archivist* editorial policies. All submissions selected for prospective
inclusion in this special section will go through the *American Archivist* peer
review process, the rubric for which can be found here
<http://files.archivists.org/periodicals/Peer_Review_Form.pdf>. Please use this
google form
<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdOX9CPXgc85MdsEnkmVrgMNsna4u5KDJTkkJqOgDO8yjv9hg/viewform>
to
submit your proposal.

Inquiries can be sent to Betts Coup, a member of the editorial team, at
[log in to unmask]

The deadline for proposals is *February 1, 2025*.

*Editorial Team*

*Faith Charlton*
Lead Processing Archivist, Special Collections Firestone
Princeton University Library

*Alison Clemens*
Director, Access Services and Operations
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale Library

*Betts Coup*
Head of Archival Operations
Technical Services for Archives and Special Collections
Harvard University Archives, Arts, and Special Collections

*Shaun Ellis*
Library Software Engineer
Princeton University Library