As FRASER expands to include new collections, its overall look and technology change as well. Users may have noticed some variations to FRASER over the past year, including our updated web design and new image viewer. These updates work to facilitate FRASER’s goal of providing a seamless experience when browsing, searching, and connecting with FRASER resources.
Homepage
The FRASER homepage has a new, sleek look but retains a similar structure overall. Keep an eye on what’s new to FRASER with our RSS feed, now located in the footer, and watch the Featured section at the top for exciting new collections.
FRASER Collections
The drop-down menus, where FRASER collections and points of access are organized, have moved to the top right, along with our About page, contact information, Inside FRASER blog, API documentation, and bookmark feature.[1]
Drop-down menus on FRASER
Image Viewer
One of the biggest changes to FRASER is the introduction of a new image viewer, which allows for greater engagement with the materials in FRASER.
Within the viewer, click on the “i” icon on the right-hand side to open the About panel, which contains additional information about the item you are viewing, including the title, date, and table of contents. Other buttons on the right side panel provide a PDF and full-text download option, a suggested citation (quotations icon), and an item permalink.
About panel icons
“Report on Public Credit, January 1790; Report on a National Bank, December 1790,” Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances (1790)
The image viewer displays the digital document in the middle of the screen and includes a layer of full text, which allows for a full-text search of the document: To do this, click the magnifying glass icon on the left-hand side and type terms into the search bar. The results will be highlighted on the document, allowing you to arrow through the results.
Magnifying glass icon
Full-text search for “gold”
You can also navigate through a document by clicking on the icon with four rectangles (thumbnails icon) directly below the magnifying glass and selecting a page from the thumbnail view.
Thumbnails icon
Thumbnail view
The Deep Zoom functionality of the image viewer allows users to zoom in on digital documents without losing any detail. This powerful tool is especially useful in examining digitized maps and handwritten data charts. Simply click on the Deep Zoom button overlaying the item to access this functionality and then click on the X button in the top-right corner to return to the regular item view.
Deep Zoom button
#89 – Maps – St. Louis, MO [Map of the United States Showing Sales Reach of the Butler Brothers Company of St. Louis], Box 2665, Folder 4, Records of the Federal Reserve System, Record Group 82
Details on the updates to the design and functionality of FRASER, tips on how to use the new features, and more information can be found in our How to Use FRASER document. If you have questions about using FRASER or suggestions for improvements, please contact us.
[1] You can read more about the bookmark feature and our API functionality in our How to Use FRASER: 2022 Edition blog post, https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/blog/2022/04/how-to-use-fraser-2022-edition/.
© 2025, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis or the Federal Reserve System.
