EIFL began as eIFL.net in 1999 as an initiative of the Open Society Institute (OSI), a private grant-making foundation that is part of the Soros Foundation network during the time that publisher Frances Pinter was head of its international publishing programme. Recognising the role that libraries play in the exchange of ideas, knowledge and information and the development of open societies, OSI invested in library development and modernisation especially in the post-socialist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.