The Scandia Plan was founded in 1956 for the purpose of sharing acquisitions of research material among libraries in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The Plan immediately received much publicity because of its unique international features and was advocated by UNESCO and the international library community as a worthy model for development in international library cooperation. This study in international and particularly European librarianship explores the social and political background of the Scandia Plan, its foundation, development, organization, and achievements as well as the reasons why it was abandoned in 1980. A special chapter is devoted to the discussion of alternative means to increase access to publications. The author offers a useful analysis of library cooperation.