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.

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.

Explore the Future of Library Collaboration: Shared Print Collection White Paper Now Available

Discover the foundational ideas and strategic vision behind the Big Ten Academic Alliance's Shared Print Collection. This new white paper outlines the progress and collective benefits of transitioning to a distributed, networked archive. Learn how the Shared Print Collection is redefining access, equity, and collaboration for the Big Ten community and beyond.

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

Big Ten Academic Alliance announces unlimited publishing deal with Institute of Physics Publishing

Dec 15, 2022, 12:17 PM

Participating Big Ten Academic Alliance libraries have reached a transformative, three-year Read and Publish Agreement with the Institute of Physics (IOP), a further step in collective action toward the Big Collection. This agreement begins on January 1, 2023, and runs through December 31, 2025.

Strengthening the commitment to opening research, IOP Publishing (IOPP) has agreed to a three-year unlimited open publishing agreement with the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) consortium in the United States (US). Beginning January 2023, the agreement enables affiliated researchers to publish unlimited Open Access (OA) papers at no cost to them.

This open publishing agreement is a contract negotiated between IOPP and the Big Ten Academic Alliance, which has led the negotiations on behalf of its member institutions. The agreement assists in moving the academic publishing business model toward “open” by combining reading access to journals with open access publication of research by authors from Big Ten universities.

During the agreement, authors affiliated with Big Ten Academic Alliance institutions can make their research openly accessible to the global community immediately after publication while retaining their copyright. In addition, BTAA institutions continue their existing access to the IOPscience extra collection.

“We’re delighted to partner with IOP Publishing to move toward a more open and equitable future,” stated Maurice York, Director, Library Initiatives at the BTAA. “This agreement advances our collective strategy of open access scholarship by making member research available to a global audience and simultaneously reducing friction in the publishing workflow by removing the cost and workflow burden from authors.”

Julian Wilson, Sales and Marketing Director at IOPP said: “We are dedicated to supporting research institutions in their ambition to publish all their content OA. We believe that universal access to research can maximize its visibility and accelerate scientific discovery.”