The Library is Open: Making the Case for Academic Libraries as the planning hub for Frederick Douglass Day

This case study showcases the value of having a library act as the central planning and event location at a public, land-grant university. Frederick Douglass Day is a hybrid day of “…collective action for Black history” (Center for Black Digital Research, n.d.) that was founded by Dr. Jim Casey, an African American Studies faculty member at Pennsylvania State University. It is a day where students and community members from higher education institutions, archival institutions, and museums from around the world log onto a transcription program and participate in transcribing historical documents. Some of the participants are assigned to be “transcribers” and some are assigned to be “checkers” – to verify the transcription. This transcription event allows for archives (usually provided by the Library of Congress or Moorland-Springarn Archives at Howard University) to be searchable and usable to the public. It is a non-traditional but exciting way to engage your community in archival history in a unique way. It describes the benefits of having a Research level 1 (R1) information hub with a well-supported faculty and highly collaborative reputation to add to the interdisciplinary aspect of the event. This case study will track the evolution of Frederick Douglass Day from 2019 to the present, including the pivots made during the academic lockdown in 2020 and 2021 and beyond. It will also argue that a campus library should be the planning and committee home of similar events.