History of EAHIL

In December 1984 a group of health librarians first discussed plans to initiate contacts with their colleagues in other European countries.

During the Fifth International Congress of Medical Librarianship in 1985 the 26 European colleagues present in Tokyo met to discuss place and date of a first conference which was to gather health information officers and librarians from all countries of Europe. The meeting concluded with the decision to hold such a conference in Brussels a year later.

The First European Conference of Medical Libraries was held in Brussels 1986. Participants acknowledged the need for greater cooperation in Europe so the European Association for Health Information and Libraries (EAHIL) was established.

EAHIL was constituted 1987, in Brighton U.K. Mr Marc Walckiers, Director of the Bibliothèque de la Faculté de Médecine, Université Catholique de Louvain in Brussels, served as EAHIL’s first President.