In line with the national agenda for archives, the Britten-Pears Library is pursuing a strategy of making its collections better known and more accessible to a wider public. For a library with strong traditions, located in an isolated corner of coastal England, there are many challenges involved in embarking on this path and careful balances to be struck between the demands of security and access, innovation and tradition. This article outlines the progress made so far, and discusses some of the issues that have arisen along the way.