We started life in the pre-internet age, when simply finding official EU documents could be a difficult task.

We brought together people with resources and expertise and those who sought them. Although it is now generally true that access to EU information is no longer the barrier it once was, ignorance of the EU remains a problem.

The Association has no corporate view on whether the EU is a Good Thing or a Bad Thing. We do, however, believe that ignorance about the Union and how it works is detrimental to sensible discussion about EU issues.

The EU plays an increasingly important role in the lives of its citizens, yet is poorly understood by many, leaving them vulnerable to misinformation peddled by the media, politicians and others.

We therefore seek to provide not only access to information about the EU, but also to expertise in its workings, so that our members, their users, and other interested parties can benefit from gaining a clearer picture of what the EU is and how it works.

Our worldwide membership includes:

• public, academic and government libraries
• information units of professional and voluntary groups
• European Documentation Centres
• Enterprise Europe Network members
• Europe Direct centres
• local authority European Officers
• law firms
• publishers
• other companies from a variety of industries

The EIA is a non-profit-making organisation with charitable status, registered in the United Kingdom as charity number 294502.

Our aims and objectives are set out in our constitution. The work of the Association is directed by a Committee, which meets four times each year, and day-to-day management is the responsibility of a part-time Coordinator, from whom further details of the Association are available (see our contacts page).

From little acorns … the origins of the European Information Association is a history of the Association, 1970-1990.