This paper investigates the need for electronic provision of information, and advises that the purpose and motivation for providing electronic resources be explored before embarking on a project to provide them. Many projects at universities and other institutes have been begun arbitrarily just because there happened to be financial resources available--quite often these projects lack a well-defined policy. This paper describes the Electronic Library Utrecht, a project at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. The leading principle of the Electronic Library Project is to comply with the requirements and wishes of researchers, teachers, and students. In this respect, the library project is not so much a technology-driven project as it is a user-driven project. The paper describes determining user requirements; the integration of the physical and electronic collections; searching for information independent of technical structures; an information retrieval system dependent on the type of user and usage; and the digitization of the entire library service, rather than just of the library's collection. The paper also investigates: the project organization, communication structures, and implementation of results; the realization of the projects--infrastructure and electronic library services; and practice and problems--a possible approach and reality. (SWC)