Elizabeth Hoover de Gálvez
Graduate Fellow
School of Library and Information Science
University of Iowa

Elizabeth is a digital libraries fellow at the University of Iowa School of Library and Information Science. Her primary professional interest is in developing information systems that function in rural and culturally diverse areas. Digital libraries are a promising solution to information access problems in these areas because they permit virtual access to appropriate materials that may otherwise be too costly or widely dispersed.

Elizabeth is currently involved in the Living Documents^SM collaborative program with Professor Padmini Srinivasan to develop a tool that allows users to access culturally and linguistically appropriate versions of health information materials. The documents are referred to as “living” because the material will be customizable both in format and content according to the user’s culture, language, literacy level, and preferences. The initial Living Documents^SM pilot consists of base source material from a series of books which provide direct health care information in as many as 80 languages. The pilot is being undertaken with the permission of the publisher of these books, a California-based nonprofit foundation.

As a CARTHA Fellow, Elizabeth aspires to widely share and disseminate information about the Living Documents^SM program to academic and practice communities in the US and abroad. In March 2008, Elizabeth presents her work at the Document Academy conference at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Elizabeth earned her B.A. in Interdepartmental Health Studies at the University of Iowa. In addition to her work at the University, she and her husband run an advertising company for the Latino community in Eastern Iowa. Elizabeth was born and grew up in Des Moines, Iowa. In her spare time she enjoys attending community events and traveling.