Libraries
The Libraries of the Big Ten Academic Alliance are aligned in the vision of uniting our separate collections into one collection, shared and fully networked: the BIG Collection. By this phrase we mean a holistic and comprehensive understanding of what a library "collection" is: not simply the things we hold, but our services; our people; our expertise; our technology; and our infrastructure.
In advancing this future of interdependence and excellence, we are guided by our North Star in everything that we do:
In order to advance a just, trustworthy, scalable & sustainable open knowledge ecosystem, make open, more equitable scholarship our lead purpose.
On these pages, you'll find more about the services, programs, and community that are advancing this vision in a principles-centered, mission-driven, values-aligned way.
ADA Title II & Libraries
Catch the webinar replay + slides from our August 27 event. Now posted on our Accessibility page.
Big Ten Open Books
A new model for open-access publishing—free, trusted titles from Big Ten university presses..
Shared Print White Paper
Explore the vision for a collaborative, distributed archive across Big Ten libraries.
Daily Illini Examines the CIC's Role in Digitization at the University of Illinois
The University of Illinois recently became the latest CIC member to start the process of digitizing its collection of Government Documents for the CIC/Google Government Documents Project. The Daily Illini interviewed Mark Sandler, director of the CIC's Center for Library Initiatives, about the project.
“We’re now moving on to the University
of Illinois, which has worked carefully to identify a substantial
number of volumes to send. Then, in five or six months, we’ll move on
to another CIC university,” Sandler told the paper.
The article also mentions the CIC's partnership with the Google Book Search Project to digitize up to 10 million volumes from the consortium, as well as the HathiTrust, the shared digital repository co-founded by the CIC members.