Steely Library is excited for a new year and spring semester. You can find updates and reminders about library services and collections that support classroom instruction below. Find more information about how Steely Library supports our NKU community on our website. We look forward to collaborating with and supporting you this spring!  

Instruction

Steely Library provides instructional support in a variety of ways; please see our Instruction webpage for our full suite of options. We offer the following types of library instruction: 

• Information Literacy: Please use our calendar link to schedule your session before Friday, February 6, 2026. Information literacy instruction provides students a chance to meet with a Steely librarian to learn research skills and knowledge relevant to their course and broader discipline.
• Stego Studio: Please use our calendar link to schedule a tour of our makerspace or makerspace instruction. We offer personalized equipment demonstrations, tours of our facility, and reserved priority time for your class to work on projects focusing on the technologies we offer (3d printing, 3d scanning, and laser cutting and engraving). We also consult with faculty on assignment design that utilizes makerspace equipment; contact stegostudio@nku.edu to set up a consultation. 
• Special Collections & University Archives: Please reach out to archives@nku.edu to schedule a primary source literacy instruction session. Special Collections & University Archives instruction emphasizes the importance of historical context in analyzing primary sources and provides students the opportunity to do hands-on work with unique archival materials. 

Research Help

Steely Librarians are on call this spring Monday – Thursday, 10am-4pm and Friday from 12-2pm to support questions from our community. Stop by Steely Library, chat with us online to get quick questions answered and get tips and strategies on finding and evaluating information resources.

For more in-depth research questions, we encourage students to schedule a one-on-one consultation. Consultations are available to all NKU students, faculty, and staff. Undergraduate students should schedule their research consultations through Navigate and graduate students and faculty can request a library consultation through this Qualtrics form.

New this spring, we also have a FAQ with screenshots to help schedule a Navigate consultation or a graduate consultation.

Outside our Research Help hours, our 24/7 chat service can still assist you with library questions and or you can browse our frequently asked questions and our library 101 videos. 

Access and Affordability

We have several services to support course affordability, including: 

• Open Educational Resources (OER) Instructor Grant: Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis to support faculty in adopting and adapting OERs for spring 2026 or summer 2026 courses. To learn more, see our library news article. 
• Course Reserves: Course reserves allow faculty members to make items available to students for short-term checkout through Steely Library. To submit a physical or electronic reserves request for the fall semester, please submit a reserves request form. 
• InterLibrary Loan: If Steely cannot provide access to an article, book, or other item, NKU students, faculty, and staff may place an InterLibrary Loan request so that the item can be borrowed from another library and delivered to them electronically or as a physical copy.  

Collections

Steely Library provides physical and electronic access to a variety of scholarly resources. Faculty looking to include streaming media in their courses this spring should complete our one-time purchase request form. As a reminder, all NKU Canvas courses have a “Steely Library Resources” in the left-hand navigation of a course. This will link students to relevant discipline-specific library resources located in our research guides.