This issue is largely devoted to the sometimes vexed topic of European law – its sources and where to find it. I am indebted to Maria Bell from LSE, who not only contributed an article (with Margaret Watson), but also gave me much help in identifying potential subjects and, most importantly, potential authors to write for us, when trying to navigate around the subject almost proved too much for me!
We have received some useful feedback from the short survey we recently sent out about what you would like to see covered in the journal. The Editorial Board is meeting shortly to discuss the results and we will be reporting back in a forthcoming issue. We would like to thank everyone who took the time to complete the survey.
European Union Law and How to Find It
Many thanks to all our contributors who have come up trumps in providing a series of articles on a wide variety of topics related to the EU and its legal information. John Furlong has updated the extremely comprehensive article that originally appeared in the Summer 2006, 6(2), issue which provides an excellent foundation for EU law research. Specific sources mentioned in John's article are covered in more detail by our other contributors.
Paul Clarke has written about the current awareness sources available on EU law and mentions the lack of appreciation of EU matters by the UK press. He is currently Chairman of the European Information Association and has also contributed, with Eric Davies, an article detailing its activities and publications. It is a very active organisation and many of our contributors are members – it is probably an essential networking tool within this subject area.
Ian Thomson – Mr EU Information in the UK – according to the website of the Information Office of the European Parliament, has written a reflective article on the online information service European Sources Online, of which he is the Executive Editor. Maria Bell and Margaret Watson cover the role of the European Documentation Centre librarian within the academic sector. They discuss the resources and services available from such centres and the challenges of the future. Patrick Overy has provided a very practical and useful guide to tracing EU Working Documents, which are an essential source of information, but which can often prove to be extremely difficult to locate. A fuller version of this article was recently been published on Globalex. www.nyulawglobal.org/Globalex/European_Union_Travaux_Preparatoires.htm
Phil Wilkin from the University of Pittsburgh writes about the unique database, the Archive of European Integration, which has been established there. It is especially valuable as it acts as both a repository and a permanent archive of material relating to European integration.
Stig Marthinsen completes the theme with his article on the newly established Caselex database, which offers access to Member States cases which interpret EU law. The project was originally funded by a public-private alliance with the European Commission.
Current topics
James Mullan tackles the tricky subject of attempting to measure the value of your information service, which is particularly relevant in the current economic climate. The article makes interesting reading and the topic of measuring the value of knowledge management alone is worthy of a separate article. Anne Coles promotes the advantages of Chartering with CILIP for information professionals working within the corporate/law firm area and she makes a pretty convincing case in favour!
Lesley Dingle has contributed another article in the series on prominent lawyers from the Squire Law Library, this time it's the turn of Professor Sir Bob Hepple and the interview makes very interesting reading as, in his early career, Prof Hepple was closely concerned with human rights in South Africa and was an adviser to Nelson Mandela. Part 2 of Lesley's article will appear in the Autumn issue.
Checklist
Suzanne Wheatley from Sue Hill has produced a timely guide to coping with redundancy. She covers both the emotional and practical aspects of this unfortunately increasingly common phenomenon in the information profession. Once again, the advantages of networking are discussed in this article.
I am as usual very grateful to our regular contributors – Katherine Read and Laura Griffiths of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies for the Current Awareness column and Michael Oberwarth for gathering together the Book Reviews.
