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.

Academy Owned Scholarly Publishing Landscape Report

Launched in the fall of 2022, the Big Ten Academic Alliance [BTAA] landscape assessment of academy owned scholarly publishing activities explores the shared challenges and opportunities facing publishing programs and operations within the Big Ten institutions.

Big Ten Open Books

Big Ten Open Books connects readers everywhere to fully accessible, trusted books from leading university presses. Established as a new model for open-access publishing focused on equity and inclusion, we invite you to explore our Gender and Sexuality studies collection.

BIG Collection: Resource Access Policy Harmonization Report

The Resource Access Policy Harmonization pilot team is pleased to share their final report. Aspirational in nature, the report includes the new BTAA Resource Sharing Agreement plus Scanning Standards; reaffirms the Principles and Protocols for Sharing Special Collections within the Big Ten; and articulates important next steps for future pilot projects and working group investigations.

Library News

Chronicle Blog Post Hails HathiTrust for Research, Mentions CIC

Oct 15, 2010, 15:52 PM

A recent blog post (10/12) on the Chronicle of Higher Education website details one faculty researcher's experience using the HathiTrust, the shared digital repository co-founded by the CIC members, as well as the University of Michigan's Mirlyn library catalog.

Blogger Natalie Houston, an associate professor of English at the University of Houston, describes herself as an "enthusiastic user" of the HathiTrust.

"The digitization of public domain texts has transformed the kinds of research and teaching I can do, and the University of Michigan library and the Hathi Trust project offer important scholarly tools for finding and using those digitized items," she writes.

The HathiTrust contains almost 7 million volumes as of Oct. 15.