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


The Benefits of Membership: The Washington Post Focuses on University of Maryland's Entrance into the CIC

May 7, 2013, 12:31 PM

As outlined in The Washington Post, University of Maryland students, faculty, and staff are poised to reap the benefits of joining the Committee on Institutional Cooperation.

washington post newspaper logo

Resources, opportunities, and savings—before long the University of Maryland will begin enjoying the benefits of belonging to the Committee on Institutional Cooperation.

After a visit to College Park by the CIC's Executive Leadership Team, The Washington Post ran an article highlighting some of the many advantages that the University of Maryland's students, faculty, and staff will soon have when Maryland becomes a fully-fledged member of the consortium July 1, 2013.

"For example, Indiana University recently offered first-year Dutch, intermediate Mongolian and introductory Zulu to other CIC schools. The University of Michigan reciprocated with second-year Tibetan, modern Korean literature and first-year Czech.

CIC faculty are plugged into a common data network that seems to get bigger and faster all the time, allowing the rapid transfer of massive quantities of information, extremely valuable for cooperative research.

Just as important, educators say, the leaders of various wings of the academy — libraries, information technology, research laboratories, etc. — all get together frequently with CIC colleagues to swap ideas, plan joint initiatives and, not incidentally, hunt for ways to save money."

 For the complete article:  U-Md. Joins Big Ten's Academic Network

For more on the University of Maryland's entrance into the CIC, please visit the CIC Expansion pages.