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

Out-of-Copyright but No Longer Out-of-SIght

Mar 28, 2013, 11:29 AM

OSU Libraries have begun sending their collection's out-of-print books to the Google Books Library Project for scanning.

OSU Libraries have begun sending their collection's out-of-print books to the Google Books Library Project for scanning.

OSU indicated its interest in joining the project in 2009 as part of the CIC Libraries’ agreement, but because other universities and colleges were in line for scanning ahead of it and Thompson Library was going through its renovation, Ohio State did not start sending books to Google until this month.

All the digitized works are being kept within the HathiTrust, a collective of 60 international libraries that ensures such works will be preserved for all time. Ohio State is a founding member of HathiTrust as part of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation. Anyone can access the works at hathitrust.org, which has its infrastructure at the universities of Michigan, Indiana and Illinois.

For more about Ohio State's efforts, visit the article: Ohio State’s books begin their Google journey.

Read more: the CIC/HathiTrust Digital Repository and the CIC's Google Book Search Project.