Collection Profile
The Library's acquisitions policy for books, journals, documents and electronic resources follows closely the Law Department's research themes and projects .
The monthly list of monograph acquisitions includes all legal books purchased or received as a gift by the Library.
Top priority is given to the acquisition of materials in the area of European Union law in all its aspects, institutional and substantive. Secondary sources (books, periodicals and encyclopedias) are in five languages of the EU (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish).
This is complemented by a fully equipped European Documentation Centre where all the official publications and documents of the EU are available on paper and accessible through a series of bibliographic and full-text databases on-line.
Library holdings are in the area of public international law in general (basic textbooks), human rights law, the law of international organizations (UN), international regulation of trade law, competition law, labour law, environmental law, cultural law, dispute settlement and arbitration, law of war relief and war crimes.
The secondary literature in these areas (books and periodicals) is complemented by source material (treaties, law reports) on paper and/or electronic.
The holdings of books and periodicals are centred on the following themes: philosophy of law in general, law and morals, legal method (semiotics, logics, interpretation) sociological jurisprudence, law and economics.
Many of the research projects in the Law Department are of a comparative nature. The library holdings are closely linked to these projects. A few examples of areas covered are: general theory of comparative law, labour and social law, environmental law, constitutional and administrative law, private law,contract law and commercial law, procedural law, economic, particularly antitrust law. Areas which are typically not covered are family law, criminal law and tax law.
The very nature of comparative law requires some basic holdings of the national law of the countries under consideration. The Library has a core collection of primary and secondary legal materials of the Member States of the European Union and some other countries relevant to comparative law (US).
Given the small number of researchers using these national collections, the books collection is very much based on on-demand acquisition. There is, however, a large collection of encyclopedias, national law reports on paper complemented by online databases .
Document Types
The monograph holdings can be found in the Law Collection on the top floor of the Library and are shelved in the following order: legal dictionaries (A), legal theory (B), public international law (D), European law (EC), comparative law (F, G) and national law (H-Z).
In particular, the national collections (mainly of the EU Member States) reflect the research interest of the single members of the Law Department and cannot claim to be coherent or complete. .
The Library subscribes to about 400 legal journals on paper and over a 1000 electronic journals in the areas of research of the Law Department. The paper journals are shelved together with the other periodicals in the Periodicals area on the ground floor of the Library (SER 34). Electronic journals are accessible through the online catalogue (EUI members only). See also the list of all electronic journals subscribed to by the Library.
The current issues of about 70 of the most consulted legal journals are on display on the entrance floor of the Library (CUR 34). The early years of most journals are kept in storage and can be requested by filling out a Storage Request Form
Back numbers of some periodicals are in microform or microfiche format and can be found in the Microforms Room on the lower floor of the Library. Consult the online catalogue for the exact location of the EUI periodicals holdings.
Case law publications and periodical reports of legislation can be found in the Case Law Collection on the top floor of the Library (CAS followed by a Steiner classification number). See our list of law reports on paper .
Complementary to our law reports on paper, the Library gives access to some CD Roms and online databases containing legislation or case law, as you can see on the list of databases . See also the full-text of recent legislation and case law on the list of Internet resources .
The Library subscribes to the Official Journals of France, Italy and Germany. They can be found in the catalogue:
A useful starting point for finding freely available official gazettes is Government Gazettes Online
The EUI Library is a depository library for the EU and these publications are housed in the European Documentation Centre on the top floor of the Library. The European Information Research Guide provides online access to all relevant EU documents.
Law dictionaries, both bi-lingual and multi-lingual, are shelved at the beginning of the first corridor on the top floor of the Library ((LAW Aa24, LAW Aa25).