User:Vacekrae

Rachel Vacek is the Head of Design & Discovery in the Library Information Technology division at the University of Michigan Library. In the Design & Discovery department, she oversees twelve FTE that provide front-end web application development, design, content strategy, user research, and offer accessibility expertise and UX strategy across the entire U-M Library web presence. Her team also coordinates and manages strategic initiatives within the Library IT division providing leadership in library analytics, discovery, delivery of resources and services, assessment, and technology training.

Beyond the library, she's currently on the Board of Directors for the American Library Association's Games and Gaming Round Table, an advisory committee for the Designing for Digital conference, and is an editorial board member for Web Management & Marketing: The Peer-Reviewed Journal. Previously, Rachel was the 2014 President of the Library and Information Technology Association (LITA), a 2014 Library Journal Mover & Shaker, and a 2007 American Library Association (ALA) Emerging Leader.

Her research and professional interests include user experience, information architecture, open source technologies, digital libraries, discovery technologies, and library leadership.

Rachel is originally from southwest Ohio and earned her Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Dayton and her Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh.

Rachel joined the U-M Library in August 2016. She has previously worked at the University of Houston in Houston, TX, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, and Miami University in Oxford, OH.