Northern Kentucky University (NKU) is joining JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services as a Tier 3 charter participant, partnering with JSTOR to strengthen the management, preservation, and discovery of digital collections held by W. Frank Steely Library.
Through JSTOR Stewardship, NKU will gain access to an integrated environment for digital asset management, long-term preservation through Portico, and discovery and access through JSTOR. As a Tier 3 participant, the library team will also use JSTOR Seeklight, the collections processing tool within Stewardship, to generate draft metadata, transcripts, alt text, and collection-level insights while keeping human expertise and judgment at the center.
NKU’s participation reflects Steely Library’s commitment to connecting its distinctive collections with students, researchers, and communities beyond campus. Potential areas of focus include student newspapers, Kentucky and regional history collections, Moby-Dick related scholarship and art, and materials documenting the widely publicized 1927 murder trial of George Remus, a prominent Prohibition-era bootlegger. The library also sees opportunities to involve students and public history initiatives in this work, making digital stewardship itself a space for hands-on learning, interpretation, and community engagement.
The initiative is supported in part by a generous gift from Dr. Robert K. Wallace, Regents Professor of English, whose support is helping Steely Library expand the preservation, digitization, and accessibility of distinctive collections. Wallace’s gift provides important resources for building the infrastructure and capacity needed to make archival and special collections more widely available for teaching, research, and public engagement.
As part of the Tier 3 charter community, NKU will work alongside peer institutions and JSTOR to help shape emerging tools and practices for responsible, AI-assisted digital stewardship. The university will also be eligible for dedicated Mellon-supported digitization funding for collections processed through Seeklight and shared openly on JSTOR.
“NKU’s collections hold rich resources for teaching, research, and public engagement,” said Dr. Amy Malventano, Head of Special Collections and University Archives at W. Frank Steely Library. “JSTOR Stewardship gives us a way to make more of those materials discoverable and available to researchers on campus, across our region, and around the world, while helping us build sustainable workflows for long-term access and preservation.”
“JSTOR Stewardship aligns with the direction we want to take at W. Frank Steely Library: making our collections easier to discover and use, and more deeply connected to teaching and research,” said Brianna Marshall, Dean of W. Frank Steely Library. “We’re especially excited about the opportunity to build a stronger foundation for digital initiatives that can serve both NKU and the broader region.”
“NKU is approaching digital stewardship with both practical momentum and a clear sense of purpose to engage the community through these incredible collections,” said Jess Clemons, Director of Business Development, JSTOR Stewardship. “Their commitment to expanding access, engaging students and communities, and putting their collections to work in new ways will make them an important contributor to the Tier 3 charter cohort.”
About Northern Kentucky University
NKU is an entrepreneurial state university serving more than 15,000 students on a thriving suburban campus just minutes from downtown Cincinnati. Consistently recognized for exceptional value and student outcomes, NKU is committed to delivering an innovative, student-centered education while advancing the economic, civic and social vitality of the region.
About JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services
JSTOR Digital Stewardship Services is a cloud-hosted digital collections platform that unites digital asset management, long-term preservation, and expanded discovery pathways—including sharing on JSTOR—with the AI-assisted collections processing tools of JSTOR Seeklight.