Scottish academic and research libraries have a strong history of creating successful frameworks for the practical development of shared services, particularly in the area of content purchasing and national licensing of subscription content. This has been and continues to be a major achievement in terms of maximising access to resources through collaborative action and part of the broader Scottish Confederation of University and Research Libraries (SCURL) efforts to collaborate towards the creation of cooperative library infrastructure in Scotland.

The Scottish Higher Education Digital Library (SHEDL) was established by SCURL in 2009. This chapter examines SHEDL as it is in 2017 and reflects on the evolution of the work involved noting significant successes as well as current challenges.