Location
KIPJ Room D
Session Type
40-minute concurrent session
Start Date
29-4-2024 1:45 PM
End Date
29-4-2024 2:25 PM
Keywords
digitization, project management, hybrid work, metadata
Abstract
Each Federal Reserve Bank distributes circulars to their member banks which contain information regarding bank supervision and regulation, services, policies, and district relations. The early circulars of a Reserve Bank, those issued after the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and before the general regulation of the twelve Reserve Banks through the Banking Act of 1935, illuminate the idiosyncratic nature of the policies and procedures of each district.
In the summer of 2023, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago sent their circulars from the years 1914 to 1979 to the Digital History and Archives team at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to be digitized and uploaded to FRASER, the Federal Reserve System’s digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history. The digitization of these archival materials would facilitate access of important historical and contextual information relating to the operations of the Chicago Fed, most notably the bank’s efforts to garner trust in the American people after the banking panics in the early 20th century, and during the World Wars.
This session is a case study of an early career librarian’s approach to a full-scale digitization project, including approaches to project management, hybrid work, and metadata creation. This digitization project also served as an in-depth orientation to the history of the Federal Reserve System and its Reserve Banks in the context of broader American history, in addition to the digitization processes and standards of FRASER.
Included in
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Circulars: A Case Study of an Early Career Librarian’s Approach to a Full-Scale Digitization Project
KIPJ Room D
Each Federal Reserve Bank distributes circulars to their member banks which contain information regarding bank supervision and regulation, services, policies, and district relations. The early circulars of a Reserve Bank, those issued after the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and before the general regulation of the twelve Reserve Banks through the Banking Act of 1935, illuminate the idiosyncratic nature of the policies and procedures of each district.
In the summer of 2023, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago sent their circulars from the years 1914 to 1979 to the Digital History and Archives team at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis to be digitized and uploaded to FRASER, the Federal Reserve System’s digital library of U.S. economic, financial, and banking history. The digitization of these archival materials would facilitate access of important historical and contextual information relating to the operations of the Chicago Fed, most notably the bank’s efforts to garner trust in the American people after the banking panics in the early 20th century, and during the World Wars.
This session is a case study of an early career librarian’s approach to a full-scale digitization project, including approaches to project management, hybrid work, and metadata creation. This digitization project also served as an in-depth orientation to the history of the Federal Reserve System and its Reserve Banks in the context of broader American history, in addition to the digitization processes and standards of FRASER.