EUROLIB stands for "European Community and Associated Institutions Library Cooperative Group". It has been established in 1988 upon the initiative of the Secretary general of the European Parliament, following the Council resolution of 1985 (C271) and the European Parliament reports of Leonardi and Schwencke of 1982 and 1984 on the creation of an European Library, which would be the sum of all national libraries in the Member States. The idea was abandoned as unrealistic and the creation of a computerized database of European literature was proposed. Another initiative was the "Plan of Action for Libraries in the EC", prepared by the Commission in 1987 to define and set up a system, in collaboration with the most important libraries in Europe, that would be enable computerized catalogues to be linked up.
After the first Eurolib meeting in 1988 they realized that Eurolib programme could not be funded by the Action Plan because the Plan was not intended for the libraries in the EC Institutions. So the feasibility study and the preparatory work to set up Eurolib network were financed by INSIS and they were completed by CRI (Computer Resources International), and a development plan was established.

First Eurolib Resolution was set up in 1989, then, according to a new agreement signed in 1997, membership is open to libraries and library-related services of Institutions established to contribute to the process of European integration.
Founding members include the European Investment Bank, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee, the Council of Europe, the College of Europe, the European Commission and the European University Institute. Then other members joined: the European Parliament, the Publications Office, the European Institute of Public Administration, the European Training Foundation, Cedefop, Eurocontrol, the Court of Justice, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, the European Court of Auditors. Both EU and non-EU institutions in various locations are involved.

Eurolib aims are connected with inter-library collaboration: documents transfer between participating libraries, exchange of cataloguing data, continuing professional education, development of common bibliographic control tools.
Eurolib meetings are hosted twice a year by member Institutions. Responsibility both for the business meetings and the maintenance of the secretariat are carried out by the President elected at a general meeting. The first president was Harold Dierickx, from 1988 to mid 1994, followed by Neville Keery, from mid 1994 to mid 2000, Sven Backlund, from mid 2000 to mid 2005, and Serge Brack, from mid 2005 to December 2009.
At the annual general assembly of 2010, members endorsed a new working programme and agreed on the election of officers to be responsible for the conduct of EUROLIB affairs.
New elections for the presidency took place in December 2009. The elected Officers for the period 2010-2017 were: President: Mr Marc Willem, Head of Library and Documentation, Cedefop (Thessaloniki); Vice-President: Milvia Priano, European Parliament (Brussels), replaced in 2014 by Francesca Rio; Vice-President: Cosimo Monda, EIPA (Maastricht), replaced in 2015 by Raffaele Del Fiore, EESC (Brussels).