Libraries
Libraries
The Big Ten Academic Alliance Library Initiatives focus on three objectives--optimizing student and faculty access to the combined resources of our libraries; maximizing cost, time, and space savings; and supporting a collaborative environment where library staff can work together to solve their mutual problems.



Library News
Maurice York Appointed Director of Library Initiatives
The Big Ten Academic Alliance is delighted to announce that Maurice York has been appointed as the new Director of Library Initiatives, effective May 21, 2020. Headquartered in the Midwest, the Big Ten Academic Alliance is the nation’s preeminent model for effective collaboration among research universities. With a 62-year history of substantive collaboration, the Big Ten and University of Chicago libraries pursue collective action to provide robust and enduring access to information resources, to advance models for more open and sustainable scholarship, and to engage shared investment in programs of efficiency and impact across the consortium.
In welcoming
Maurice, Keith Marshall, Executive Director of the Big Ten Academic
Alliance, said, "Maurice is an accomplished library leader with a deep
commitment to the collaboration and collective action that define the
Big Ten Academic Alliance. We are confident he will help us continue to
advance the impact and reputation of the Big Ten Academic Alliance
library initiatives and achieve the ambitious goals of the BIG
Collective Collection."
Maurice comes to the Big Ten Academic Alliance from the University of Michigan where he has served
as Associate University Librarian for Library Information Technology.
Prior to his time at the University of Michigan, Maurice held a series
of progressively responsible positions at Bard College, Emory University
and North Carolina State University. He also has been an active and
visionary leader in numerous national initiatives designed to ensure
the open access of knowledge in the public interest through collective
action.
Maurice holds a Bachelor of Arts in Multidisciplinary Studies from Bard College and a Master of Science in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“I’m excited to have Maurice as the next director of Big Ten Academic Alliance library initiatives,” said Sarah Pritchard, chair of the Big Ten Academic Alliance Library Directors group. “He is so familiar with major national consortial projects and with the record of work in the Big Ten itself, that he will be able to effectively carry forward the venturesome strategies we have outlined.”
Member Libraries:
- University of Chicago
- University of Illinois
- Indiana University
- University of Iowa
- University of Maryland
- University of Michigan
- Michigan State University
- University of Minnesota
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- Northwestern University
- The Ohio State University
- The Pennsylvania State University
- Purdue University
- Rutgers University
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
Contacts:
Maurice York
Director
Library Initiatives
Phone: (217) 300-0945
Email: maurice.york@btaa.org
Robert Van Rennes
Associate Director
Library Initiatives
Phone: (217) 300-4744
Email: robert.vanrennes@btaa.org
Marian Leon
Assistant Director for the BIG Collection
Library Initiatives
Phone: (217) 333-5334
Email: marian.leon@btaa.org
Rebecca Crist
Project Manager
Library Initiatives
Phone: (217) 300-4647
Email: rebecca.crist@btaa.org
Susanne Garrison
Office Administrator
Library Initiatives
Phone: (217) 244-9239
Email: susanne.garrison@btaa.org