Abstract
This paper summarizes the history of the development of the British Library's document supply services, a function for which Dr Maurice Line was responsible as a Director General in the British Library from 1974 to 1988. During its 45–year history, the service has fulfilled over 100 million requests and has responded to over 20,000 customers in 130 countries. While demand has slowed in recent years due to major changes in the way information is disseminated and accessed, in terms of both volume and revenue the British Library remains the world's largest document supplier, and the centralized service remains an invaluable underpin to the UK information infrastructure and retains widespread support from customers and stakeholders, invaluable and essential in terms of sustaining the breadth of access to journal articles. The paper also focuses on the external drivers of change and current developments in the service.