ABSTRACT
The UK eLib programme was launched in 1994 in an atmosphere of expectancy. Seven years, 70 projects and £20 million later, the programme came to a close. The key question is: was it successful? And if so, in what ways? What were its main achievements and, for that matter, failures? These questions (whether it was successful, and if so, how) have been debated within the information profession for a while – a substantial body of the professional literature has addressed them. The consensus seems to have emerged in the literature that eLib was (at least in part) successful, but this success is defined and qualified in different ways.
