The design and implementation of public policies to grant access to scientific information is now a marked trend among numerous countries of Latin America. The creation of specific instruments, the allocation of an ongoing budget and the accumulation of experience in negotiation and contracting of national licences have all been clear signs of the achievements resulting from recent initiatives in these countries. This article reviews the experience of the Consorcio para el Acceso a la Información Cientifíca Electrónica (CINCEL Corporation), a Chilean consortium created in 2002, the public policy that made it possible and the evaluation experience of its main programme, the Electronic Library of Scientific Information (BEIC).