Libraries & Librarians

Big Ten Open Books Project Launches Three New 100-Book Collections

November 3, 2026

In partnership with ten Big Ten-affiliated university presses, the Big Ten Academic Alliance’s Center for Library Programs announces the expansion of the Big Ten Open Books project with the rolling publication of the next three 100-book collections: African- Asian- and Hispanic Americans, Health Disparities and Disability Culture, and Human Environmental Impact. Big Ten Open Books creates ebook collections that aspire to the highest standards of discoverability, accessibility, durability, and flexibility.

The university presses partnering on these collections (University of Illinois Press, Indiana University Press, University of Michigan Press, Michigan State University Press, University of Minnesota Press, Northwestern University Press, The Ohio State University Press, Penn State University Press, Purdue University Press, and the University of Wisconsin Press) previously published these high-quality scholarly works in print. We are now making them available online and open access – free to read and reuse at no cost – on a rolling basis as they are sponsored. Each title has undergone a rigorous selection and quality certification process that allows readers and users of this collection to trust the content’s veracity. Making these works openly available allows them to have tremendous impact through global engagement and knowledge sharing.

The three newest Big Ten Open Books collections will explore a wide range of experiences and issues:

African- Asian- and Hispanic American Experiences brings together books on ethnicity, politics, and culture, examining how these experiences have shaped American society and expression across generations.

Health Disparities and Disability Culture explores disability, chronic illness, mental health, reproductive rights, and medical advances through personal, cultural, and policy perspectives.

Human Environmental Impact examines conservation, sustainability, and ecological ethics, spanning environmental policy and activism, agriculture, urban life, and the ripple of art and literature in shaping environmental awareness.

The Big Ten Open Books project has established a distinctive model for unified, open access publishing of scholarly monographs. It creates open content that is immediately and universally available on open infrastructure (the Fulcrum platform, hosted by the University of Michigan Library) using open distribution models (including Project MUSE, JSTOR, OAPEN, and The Palace Project from Lyrasis).