The chairman of the European Information Association examines some of the more useful sources of regular information for those seeking to keep up to date on the European Union, its institutions and legislative process. Having reviewed the key official sources, such as the Rapid database and the press site of the European Commission's Representation in London, he explains the importance of the free services available from the various commercial producers of EU information.

This article by John Furlong is an updated and revised version of an article originally authored by John Furlong and Susan Doe and published in Legal Information Management 2006, 6(2) Summer 2006 and covers in some detail the basic sources for researching European Union law. It also gives some background on the growth of the European Union and its law making.

European Sources Online (ESO) is an electronic information service that provides information focusing on Europe. This article, by Ian Thomson of Cardiff University and Executive Editor of ESO, describes the development and the background to ESO, the key features and objectives of the service and current challenges.

Margaret Watson (Bodleian Law Library) and Maria Bell (British Library of Political and Economic Science, LSE) write about their role in providing EU information for academic research and examine the issues that exist in this specialist area.

This article by Patrick Overy, from the University of Exeter, aims to clarify some of the distinctions between different categories of working document and provides details of some of the databases and collections which are essential for research into the workings of the European Union.

Phil Wilkin runs the Archive of European Integration (AEI), University Library System, University of Pittsburgh, an online repository and archive for research materials on the topic of European integration. The AEI uploads both privately-produced papers and official European Union (EU) documents, which are freely available to all. Because the EU is a treaty- and law-driven organisation, a small percentage of the privately-produced papers and many of the official EU documents on the AEI are relevant to EU law, primarily in the areas of the implementation of EU law in policy and administrative areas and the work of the court system.

This article by Stig Marthinsen describes the background to the establishment of the Caselex database and outlines how it is being currently developed and the plans for its future.

This article by Paul Clarke (Chairman) and Eric Davies (Administrator) explains the history and current aims and activities of the EIA, which provides vital networking opportunities, for all information professionals working within the European information environment.

Gillian Kalitsi, the current European Union librarian at Middle Temple, describes the scope of the collection, the types of enquiries she receives and also details the other holdings of this major professional organisation law library.

This article by James Mullan looks at a number of different tools for gathering metrics, discusses developing information services using these tools and emphasises their importance as a management tool in recessionary times.

Anne Coles describes the process of becoming a chartered member of CILIP and considers whether it is relevant to the corporate information sector. She concludes that the skills it encompasses are all vital.

As a further contribution to the Squire Law Library Eminent Scholars Archive, Lesley Dingle of the Squire Law Library has been fortunate to interview Emeritus Professor Sir Bob Hepple, an internationally-famous labour lawyer and champion of human rights. Sir Bob's career spans the historic struggle against apartheid, the introduction of anti-racist legislation in the UK, and recent observations on the relationship between labour law and globalisation.1

Suzanne Wheatley, Senior Consultant at Sue Hill Recruitment, describes the processes of redundancy from different perspectives. She discusses its potential effect on the individual and offers plenty of practical advice on how to deal with it, how to prepare for a new job and how it could potentially be an opportunity for change.