Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) constitutes one of the important channels of Information In a modern analytical electron microscope. Its primary use concerns chemical microanalysis, in which domain it has mostly been of Interest in the search of low Z elements and In solving problems requiring high spatial localization. The present review discusses some work in progress which will broaden the scope of these studies: development In instrumentation mostly related to parallel acquisition and processing of data, use of improved energy resolution (≲1 eV) for the study of near edge fine structures and for the extraction of local information on valence state or site symmetry, determination of the ultimate limits in spatial resolution and concentration detectability.