Lydia M. Olson Library - NMU Events and Announcements

Lydia M. Olson Library

Come play Holi and celebrate the coming of Spring! 

Holi is the festival of colors, celebrated by Hindus around the world. Holi is played by throwing colored powder on family and friends. It marks the triumph of good over evil and uses play to challenge social norms. 

We will have colors, music, and food as long as supplies last. Wear light color clothing that you don't mind getting colorful! Everyone welcome! 

Weather dependent! If it is snowing or raining, we will reschedule!

Lydia M. Olson Library

The OER Working Group will hold a workshop about understanding copyright and Creative Commons licensing for Open Education, including Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Pedagogy projects, on Monday, March 30, at 2 pm in 214 Harden.

This workshop is designed for faculty, graduate students, and staff who want to know more about how copyright shapes teaching and research, and how open licenses, such as those provided by Creative Commons, can support the sharing of ideas and information. Emera Bridger Wilson (Librarian) and Tom Gillespie (Senior Instructional Technologist) will introduce the benefits and limitations of all rights reserved copyright, how open licensing works within copyright, and facilitate activities to teach participants how to select the correct Creative Commons licenses for their teaching and research.

This is a great workshop for those who are new to Open Education and are looking to understand what makes OER different from other free or low-cost resources. 

Lydia M. Olson Library

We invite NMU faculty, staff, and students, as well as the broader NMU community, to an opening reception for the Zekelman Holocaust Center's traveling exhibit, "The Holocaust: History, Memory & Michigan Voices," on Monday, March 9, at 4 pm in the Library Atrium. 

Lydia M. Olson Library

Olson Library is pleased to announce that a new traveling exhibit created by the Zekelman Holocaust Center, entitled "The Holocaust: History, Memory & Michigan Voices," is now open in the Library. Along with the main exhibit, there is also a smaller exhibit on Art as Resistance. These exhibits will be on display from March 2 until April 30. We will be sharing more information soon regarding the student-led tours of the exhibit.

We invite NMU faculty, staff, and students, as well as the broader NMU community, to an opening reception on Monday, March 9 at 4 pm in the Library Atrium.

In addition to the exhibit and class visits, the Zekelman Center will also be giving a presentation as part of the UNITED Conference. Rick Schaffner will be giving a talk on "Reclaiming Power Through Resilience and Resistance" on Wednesday, March 25, 1:15 PM - 2:30 PM, Northern Center Ballrooms.

This exhibit and the associated events have been made possible through generous support from the Provost’s Office, Departments of History, Political Science, English, and Languages, Literatures & International Studies, and the School of Education, Leadership & Public Service.

For more information or to request accommodations, please contact Emera Bridger Wilson (ebridger@nmu.edu).

Lydia M. Olson Library

Northern Michigan University’s Olson Library is excited to announce that it will reopen to the public in its newly renovated space in Harden Hall on Monday, January 12. The reopening follows a two-year renovation. The renovation aims to provide an upgraded and modernized library space for students, faculty, staff, and the community.

Please note the following dates and information as the Library staff begins moving back into Harden. 

Move Begins: Movers will begin moving the physical collection from storage to Harden Hall on Monday, November 17. You can still request physical items, but please be aware that fulfillment of physical item requests may take longer than usual during this period.

Requesting Items via MeLCat & Interlibrary Loan: Interlibrary Loan (ILL) and MeLCat requests for both physical and electronic items will be paused starting Friday, December 12, and will resume on the reopening date, January 12. Users are strongly encouraged to submit all requests before Thanksgiving Break to ensure that they arrive in a timely manner.  During this time, faculty, staff, and students who have Peter White Public Library cards can utilize MeLCat through PWPL. Please see their website for information on how to obtain a Library card. 

Public Closure: The Library will be closed to the public from Saturday, December 13, through Sunday, January 11. While our physical space and access to the print collection will be unavailable during this time, our electronic resources (ebooks, electronic journals, streaming media, Libby, etc.) will continue to be available. 

Returning Items During Closure: During the closure, borrowed items may be returned to the NMU Police Department in the Services Building at 2073 Sugarloaf Avenue.

Course Reserves: Faculty who placed items on Course Reserves during the Fall will be able to pick up items on Monday, January 12. If you need your items sooner than that, Mary can send them to you via campus mail. Faculty who would like to place things on Course Reserves for the Winter 2026 semester should reach out to Mary Harma as soon as possible to avoid delays at the beginning of the semester.

An update with details on new services, resource locations, and information on arranging tours of the renovated space will be provided in early January.

Lydia M. Olson Library

Come celebrate Open Access Week with Olson Library! We will answer the following questions during this session:

• Why is Open Access important?
• What’s the difference between Gold, Diamond, and Green open access levels?
• What’s an APC? 
• How can NMU faculty and graduate students take advantage of Olson Library’s Cambridge University Press and American Chemical Society (ACS) Read & Publish agreements?

Lydia M. Olson Library

Diwali (also known as Deepavali or Tihar) is a five day festival celebrated amongst Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, and Sikh communities around the world. It celebrates the triumph of good over evil and light over dark.  

Diwali is marked by lighting diyas, or small clay oil lamps. 🪔 While we can’t have real oil lamps at the Northern Center, we will provide LED tea lights and a holder that you can decorate. We will also have a sample of South Asian snacks and sweets and you will be able to learn some regional dances from India.

This event is made possible by generous support from Lydia M. Olson Library, NMU Housing & Residential Life, School of Education, Leadership & Public Service, Departments of Sociology & Anthropology, Earth, Environmental & Geographical Sciences, Social Work, and Languages, Literatures & International Studies, and the Marquette-Alger Great Start Collaborative.

We hope to see you there! Zarur aana! 

Lydia M. Olson Library

Open educational resources are not limited to text and images. In this session, we will explore options for creating multimedia and interactive practice exercises that can also be shared as OER. We will look at examples including interactive videos, drag and drop sorting exercises, branching scenarios, and more. We have tools to create these exercises without the need for coding. Participants should bring their laptop computers.

This event is made possible through SISU Innovation Funding.

Lydia M. Olson Library

In this workshop, participants will learn the basics of LibreTexts, including how to search the library and adopt materials. Participants will also have the opportunity to curate, customize, create, and edit materials specific to their courses. No prior experience is necessary. Participants should bring their laptop computers.

LibreTexts is the largest centralized open education project and platform online. LibreTexts is adaptable and user-friendly for educators, while being easily accessible and interactive for students. On this platform, you can adopt, customize, and share textbooks, adaptive homework, and ancillary materials for a variety of subjects (chemistry, biology, business, humanities, K-12 education, math, statistics, social sciences, etc.). 

Lydia M. Olson Library

Take the Library Survey to win prizes!

The Lydia M. Olson Library is asking students, faculty, staff, and the general public to participate in a library user satisfaction survey to help us serve you better.

Once the survey is completed, individuals will have a chance to be entered in a drawing and win a $100 Amazon gift card or one of several $20 Starbucks cards.

All responses to the survey will be held in confidence. No identifying
links between responses and the individual responding will be retained. Combined data only will be reported.

Take the 15-minute survey here: https://www.libqual.org/survey/RWSLJQP27U886X8HRA.

If you have any difficulty in accessing the survey or if you have questions, please contact library@nmu.edu.