Community Engagement Network

The Big Ten Academic Alliance Libraries community engagement network is composed of over 400 staff and librarians across all Big Ten institutions. This network has grown organically according to affinity, interest, and needs unique to different areas of work (e.g. ILL, collection development, acquisitions, IT, preservation, etc) and now includes more than twenty different groups. 

The groups organize themselves into roughly three categories, falling along a continuum, from more formal to less formal:

Peer groups - Our most formal type of group, the peer groups develop strategies, methods, processes, and agreements in alignment with the strategic directions indicated by the deans/ULs. Their focus and membership are formally defined in charters that articulate the respective group’s purpose, its role in the BIG Collection, and organizing information like membership and leadership. They are supported by both a dean liaison and a staff liaison. They are empowered to engage in joint projects within the resources of the group and to request additional resources centrally if needed. 

Communities of Practice - Communities of Practice are groups focused on knowledge sharing and common problem solving. They operate under lite charters that outline their purpose and membership requirements. Membership varies with some groups having one person per institution while others are open to anyone interested in the subject matter. Most groups meet monthly via video calls, relying on communication, collaboration, and document management tools, with support from a staff person.  Although these groups are generally self-organizing and self-resourced, the staff contact is available to provide assistance when needed.

Interest groups - Interest Groups are informal groups that primarily exchange information and share questions through an email listserv. They do not have regular meetings, and membership is open to anyone from a Big Ten library interested in the subject matter.

The network overall is fluid and continually in motion, with groups evolving from one type of group into another and becoming correspondingly more formal or less formal over time.

The Executive Committee acts as the umbrella for the governance of the community.

 Peer Groups

• Collection Development Officers / Electronic Resource Officers (CDOs/EROs)

• Middle East Subject Librarians Group

• Communication Directors

• Digital Preservation

• Digital Strategies and Information Technology Services

• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

• Library Accessibility Group (LAG)

• Human Resources

• Interlibrary Loan Coordinators (ILL)

• Public Service Directors

• Scholarly Publishing

Communities of Practice

• Assessment

• Digitization Managers

• eLearning Librarians

• Heads of Acquisitions

• Heads of Cataloging

• Heads of Special Collections

• Instruction Librarians

• Structured Metadata Exchange (MDEX)

• Open Educational Resources (OER)
  

• Preservation Officers

• Student Success
  

• University Archivists

Interest Groups

• Access Services

• Heads of Government Publications

• Information, Research and Consultation Services Leaders

• Liaisons

• Reserves

• Scholarly Communications

• Shared Print Program Interest Group

• Storage

• Technical Services Strategy