In fiscal year 2025 and 2026, certain BTAA events will be eligible for full sponsorship of costs. These meetings will be funded by the Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) through a generous grant from the William + Flora Hewlett Foundation (Hewlett). We are excited to offer this opportunity in collaboration with Hewlett, whose focus is on supporting egalitarian collaboration models, to pragmatically advance the vision of the BIG Collection and the Libraries’ commitment to increasing open knowledge.
The grant will cover approved meeting-related expenses, including travel (coach airfare, mileage, and ground transportation), lodging, and meals. BTAA will coordinate and book lodging accommodations and provide meals identified in the formal agenda.
BTAA will clearly communicate in advance when an event is sponsored and provide travelers with information about how to proceed. For eligible expenses, such as travel or per diem (for meals not provided by BTAA while in travel status), travelers should submit requests through their institution's standard process. Be sure to note in your local travel request that BTAA will reimburse your institution for these costs and include the relevant BTAA message for your specific event to facilitate the process.
We’re adopting the following guidelines for meetings involving staff from Big Ten member libraries:
- funds will only be used to support programmatic events, meetings, or gatherings that are directly aligned to advancing the BIG Collection Roadmap (i.e., not for “general” peer group meetings)
- approved costs of sponsored meetings will be covered by BTAA
- discretion for approving travel and release time will remain in the hands of local institutions through established travel review and submission processes
- attendees should follow their institutional standard processes for travel arrangements and work with their institutional business office to obtain reimbursement for approved expenses - BTAA will reimburse the traveler’s institution post-meeting
- BTAA will cover coach airfare, airport parking, and ground transportation for those who are flying
- BTAA will cover mileage (standard mileage rate set by the Internal Revenue Service) and parking for those who are driving
- BTAA will pay U.S. General Services Administration per diem rates on travel days
- attendees should work with their institutional business office to obtain reimbursement for approved expenses and relevant per diem, and BTAA will reimburse the traveler’s institution post-meeting
- the funds will be allocated and administered by BTAA and will not be available to individuals to “apply for” or to pay for elective or personal costs
BUSINESS OFFICES: Please submit
one reimbursement invoice per institution per meeting to
payables@btaa.org and include the following:
- invoice date and a unique invoice number
- bill to: Big Ten Academic Alliance, 1819 South Neil Street, Suite D, Champaign, IL 61820-7271
- traveler name(s), the event name, and itemized expenses (receipt copies must be included)
- for per diem requests: date and time the traveler left and returned to headquarters
- if there are multiple travelers for the same event, list all travelers and expenses on the same invoice
If you have questions about event logistics or costs, please email
library@btaa.org and a member of the BTAA team will be happy to follow up with you.