The Agricultural Information and Documentation Service of the Americas (SIDALC) is an international agricultural, livestock, forestry and environmental information service in which institutions in 23 countries of the Americas share information and services online. Created in 1999, today it is one of the most important sources of knowledge and information in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It provides access to information generated throughout the hemisphere and stored in libraries and other related information centers. It contains some two million reference materials including books, magazines and journals, graduate theses, reports, audiovisual materials, maps and photographs. At present, the SIDALC information system is open to the public, which also permits on-line searches of available digital collections, including full texts, audiovisual materials, photographs, etc. Furthermore, SIDALC is linked to other information systems in a number of countries of the Americas, which provide stakeholders in agriculture and rural territories with access to relevant information and knowledge. SIDALC's provides access to the intellectual capital of at least 178 national institutions. It is the result of earlier initiatives aimed at management of knowledge and information, all promoted by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), such as the Orton Commemorative Library (founded in 1943); the Scientific Exchange Service (SIC), created in 1958; the Inter-American Association of Agricultural Librarians, Documentalists and Information Specialists (AIBDA), founded in 1965; and the Inter-American Agricultural Information System (AGRINTER), created in 1972. Operation SIDALC was created thanks to a grant from the Kellogg Foundation, to the technical leadership assumed by IICA and CATIE and to the participation of a number of national, regional and international organizations. SIDALC is a community of agricultural, forestry and other information specialists located in different institutions of the Americas interested in providing services openly. They collaborate with one another, “sharing a little so that all can have more,” while conserving their identity and their policies on providing specialized services at no cost or for a fee. That is greatest competitive advantage of SIDALC. With a hemispheric system to which more than 20 national information systems are linked it is possible to provide access to specialized knowledge on agriculture and rural life in the Americas and to share it with the world. Also, through SIDALC, it is possible to mobilize human and information resources among countries and regions, promoting and supporting national information management initiatives, facilitating the flow of information and promoting the dissemination and transfer