In this study, authors from two universities in The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA), formerly the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), examine and compare five years of interlibrary loan transactions at their respective institutions. The authors attempt to evaluate the use of Spanish-language materials beyond their home campuses and aim to demonstrate the potential impact of Spanish-language collections in an environment of distributed collections and institutional collaborations. The data is analyzed within defined Library of Congress Classification ranges, by language, and Carnegie Classification and geographical locations of the borrowing institution. The authors examine ILL borrowing within the BTAA and beyond their home states, investigating service to the broader constituent populations and the role of public research universities. While both institutional libraries' Spanish-language collections are strong, neither library has historically been a major collection on a national scale. This study aims to demonstrate that these collections still contribute unique and valuable materials beyond their home campuses. Additionally, it attempts to the exhibit the value of Spanish-language materials and may help subject libraries and liaison librarians in collection development decisions.
