Libraries

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.

web accessibility
Library Accessibility Group webinar: Revised ADA Title II in the Library
The slides and recording from the webinar on August 27, 2024 are now available.
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
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


Northwestern Student Newspaper Highlights Digitization at NU

Nov 3, 2010, 15:59 PM

Northwestern University's student newspaper featured the University Library's participation in the Google digitization project in its article "Library books to go digital" published Nov. 1. The Daily Northwestern story mentions the CIC's partnership with Google and what it means for...

Northwestern University's student newspaper featured the University Library's participation in the Google digitization project in its article "Library books to go digital" published Nov. 1.

The Daily Northwestern story mentions the CIC's partnership with Google and what it means for students. It also identifies Northwestern's "collections of distinction" that will be digitized, including its Africana, Music and Transportation collections.

The CIC's Google agreement has been in place since 2007. In fall 2008, digitization began at CIC member libraries, but only one at a time.

"Given the fact that Google is able to conduct this work on such a large scale, they are able to digitize so many more volumes than we could ever do on our own or with other universities," says Scott Devine, head of University Library preservation, in the article.

The story also quotes junior Laura Markee, a student who works at the library circulation desk, as saying, "This opens up a lot of our valuable research materials to people that can't get to Northwestern."

For more information on the Google project and the CIC, please visit the Center for Library Initiatives homepage.