Elastic and inelastic electron scattering from 9Be have been analyzed using large-basis shell model calculations. All major shells s, p, sd and pf are considered. The calculations are performed with truncated space, with configurations up to 2ℏω. Such calculations fail to describe the electron scattering data without normalizing the matrix elements with effective charges. Instead of using constant effective charges, one particle–one hole excitations are taken into account from all the major shell orbits into all higher allowed orbits with excitations up to 10ℏω. Excitations up to 6ℏω seem to be large enough for sufficient convergence. These excitations are essential in obtaining a reasonable description of the data. Calculations are presented for the transitions from JπT = 3/2−1/2 to JπT = 3/2−1/2, 5/2−1/2 and 7/2−1/2.