home Ellis Library, Staff news Noel Kopriva Presents on 4-H Digitization Project

Noel Kopriva Presents on 4-H Digitization Project

Noel Kopriva, Agriculture Librarian, presented a poster at the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) annual conference in Baltimore, MD, on March 23rd. Bringing a Piece of 4-H History into the Twenty-First Century: Creating a 4-H Circulars Digital Collection at a Land-Grant Library was a collaboration between Noel and Felicity Dykas, Head of Digital Services. The poster introduced attendees to scope of the collection as well as the work done to make these items accessible to the public. Noel manages the project, and Felicity and her team digitized and cataloged the circulars.

In 1922, the Missouri Extension Service published its first circular aimed directly at children, the Boys’ and Girls’ 4-H Club Circular. Published into the 1960s, the circulars cover a wide variety of topics, including food and nutrition, music appreciation, livestock, gardening, sewing, posture, and more. The 4-H Circulars collection includes all the issues in the MU Libraries’ collection (almost 200, housed in Special Collections and Rare Books) and is freely available in MOspace.