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The earlier funding model adopted by Chile to implement programs of access to scientific information had been unique within Latin America. Countries like Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico had successfully tested charging the service provision to the nation’s general budget, and had achieved a model of universal access. Chile, on the other hand, had followed a path where a co-financing model and the derived logic regarding action of the state created the Electronic Library of Scientific Information Program (BEIC), which limited benefits to only those users who belonged to the institutions that had the ability to pay and already had a consolidated community of researchers. This article reviews public policy options adopted to ensure access to resources of scientific information by the communities of researchers and reflects on the important change that occurred in 2012, when the Chilean State decided to finance the entire cost of the BEIC Program and to define access to information as a de facto universal right. The article also discusses future challenges and new programmatic features as a result of periodic assessments of the program.
