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.

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


Favorable Ruling in HathiTrust Fair-Use Case a Big Win for CIC Universities

Oct 11, 2012, 11:37 AM

As a founding member of HathiTrust, a digital repository that provides secure access to an online library containing digitized versions of legacy print collections, the CIC welcomes the recent ruling in the fair-use suit as good news for libraries, scholars...

Hathi Trust Lobo

As a founding member of HathiTrust, a digital repository that provides secure access to an online library containing digitized versions of legacy print collections, the CIC welcomes the recent ruling in the fair-use suit as good news for libraries, scholars and students.

CIC libraries and universities have made substantial investments in HathiTrust to ensure the long-term preservation of scholarly contributions; to make the content of books and journals more discoverable; to open up library content to students and others with print disabilities; and to ensure the continued relevance of the book culture in an increasingly digital age.  

As Director of CIC's Center for Library Initiative's Mark Sandler put it, "We believe as strongly as any ad hoc trade group in the social value of the body of scholarly work stewarded by our libraries, and the credit that is due to its creators. Contrary to the claims of the Author’s Guild, HathiTrust is really a testament of the profound respect our campuses have for intellectual property, the rights of authors, and the significance of their work.  I’m pleased to see that the court reaffirmed in the strongest terms the fair-use doctrine that is so critical to academic discourse. Our thanks to the University of Michigan, Indiana University, et al., for their principled defense in this case, and for universities nationally that filed briefs in support of HathiTrust. Scholarship at all levels was advanced as a result of this decision." 

For more on the ruling, please visit The Chronicle of Higher Education's Judge Hands HathiTrust Digital Repository a Win in Fair-Use Case and Inside Higher Education's 'Fair Use' Applies to Book Digitizing Work, Judge Rules.

Updated: Video of HathiTrust's Paul Courant discussing ruling.