RESEARCHING THE UNITED NATIONS
AT UNC-CHAPEL HILL
CONTENTS
- INTRODUCTION, SCOPE OF THE COLLECTION
- RESEARCHING THE UN
- FINDING DOCUMENTS IN THE UNC COLLECTION
- COUNTRY INFORMATION
- UNITED NATIONS DEPOSITORY
The Documents Section of the Reference Department has been a UN depository
since 1946. Depositories receive certain designated classes
of publications, but they do not receive all items published by the UN.
- ARRANGEMENT OF THE COLLECTION
UN publications are shelved in the Reference Department Reading Room on Row 10, and Wall Shelving,
Sections 1-7, as well as in the Documents stacks in the basement. If you want to use the
collection in the basement, get a Basement Pass at the Reference Desk.
With some exceptions, most UN publications are not listed in the UNC-CH Libraries Online
Catalog.
- REFERENCE ASSISTANCE
Reference staff will give basic assistance in United Nations research.
If you can't find a publication or have a complex research question, send email
to Mike Van Fossen,
International Documents Librarian.
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Some research tips:
- Take time to explore the UN website,
which contains full texts of many useful publications, information about treaties, conferences,
press releases, daily highlights, the UN journal, There are special sections for the broad topics
the UN is concerned with: peace and security, international law, human rights, economic and
social development, and humanitarian affairs.
- United Nations Documentation:
a Research Guide is the best overview of UN documents and publications, a description of
the information contained in various publications plus how to find copies of
speeches, resolutions, and decisions.
HANDBOOKS AND MANUALS.
These describe the organizational structure of
the UN as well as give background information on topics being discussed.
- Annual Review of United Nations Affairs, Reference Room, JX1977.C4832.
- Issues Before the [session] of the General Assembly of the United Nations
UNA-USA. Reference Room, JX1977.A1U5244a. An overview of
current issues as well as a description actions taken on a particular issue previously.
- United Nations Handbook Reference Desk, JX 1977.A1U536. A directory of the
organization of the UN, it's structure; includes addresses, some personnel.
- Yearbook of the United Nations Reference Room. JX1977.A37Y4.
An excellent overview of what went on at the UN and other international organizations
during a particular year. Includes full text of some UN resolutions.
The numerous references to UN documents/publications include the symbol number.
Indexes are listed separately in the next 3 sections.
The indexes listed below will allow you to search for:
- UN publications relating to various topics--human rights, environment, etc.
- Texts of speeches delivered by country delegates in the General Assembly, General Assembly committees, or in the other major UN organs.
- Copies of resolutions passed by the General Assembly or any of the other major organs.
Index entries in the print or CD-ROM indexes will provide you with
UN document Symbol Numbers, discussed below. You need a symbol number to find a publication.
Some types of publications are listed in indexes
but won't be in this collection because they are not distributed to depository libraries:
- "Limited Distribution" publications. These have an L. as one of the last elements of the symbol number. e.g. A/46/C.3/L.34
- "Restricted Distribution" publications. These have an R. as one of the last elements of the symbol number. e.g. A/46/3/R.34
- Publications listed as "Not for Deposit."
- Index to Proceedings [of the UN General Assembly, Economic and Social Council,
Security Council, and Trusteeship Council] are shelved on Row 10.
These have indexes for: subjects and speeches and include charts with voting
records on resolutions.
- International Bibliography. 1973-1991. Shelved on Row 10.
An index to publications of international intergovernmental organizations.
- United Nations documents indexes(paper): Beginning in 1946, the official index
to United Nations publications has had various titles; all titles are shelved together on Row 10.
The CD-ROM indexes (listed below) are our only current indexes to UN publications.
The CD's listed below are kept in the CD Cabinets in the Electronic Documents Area, to
the left of the Reference Desk. They are used on the Electronic Documents computers.
Ask at the Reference Desk for assistance.
- Index to United Nations Documents and Publications, 1957- Monthly.
Contains bibliographic records of UN official records, documents, mimeographed items,
periodicals, and some resolutions.
- UNBIS PLUS, 1975- Indexes UN documents in addition to books and
periodicals dealing with international affairs issues. There are separate indexes to
speeches given in the UN. Includes some full-text resolutions.
- Human Rights: Bibliographical Data and International Instruments.
An index to UN publications dealing with human rights, 1980-1994;
includes texts of 95 international human rights treaties/conventions/resolutions.
- UNESCO Databases, 1993 Contains ten databases indexing UNESCO publications.
- UNBISNET, United Nations Bibliographic
Information System Network, from the Dag Hammarskjold Library at the UN in New York.
Indexes UN publications, voting records on resolutions, and references to speeches
made at the UN. The UNC UN Collection is shelved by symbol number; records in
this database provide you with the symbol number.
- UN-I-QUE,
(United Nations Info Quest). Provides quick access to document symbols/sales numbers
for UN materials, 1946-present.
UN-I-QUE focuses upon documents and publications of a recurrent nature:
annual/sessional reports of committees/commissions; monographic series;
journals; annual publications; reports periodically/irregularly issued; reports of major
conferences; statements in the General Debate; etc
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1. With some exceptions, all UN publications have symbol numbers. These identify the issuing body, the type of publication it is, the year or session it was issued.
2. Symbol numbers always begin with a letter, relating to either one of the principal organs:
- A/ = General Assembly.
- E/ = Economic and Social Council
- S/ = Security Council
- T/ = Trusteeship Council
- ST/=Secretariat
or to one of the Subsidiary Organs: (there are many, here are a few examples)
- CCPR/ = Human Rights Committee
- CERD/ = Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- DP/ = UN Development Programme
- DPI/ = Department of Public Information
- TD/ = UN Conference on Trade and Development
- UNEP/ = UN Environment Programme
- UNIDO/ = UN Industrial Development Organisation
- WFC/ = World Food Council
3. The following elements are attached to the letters of the principal or subsidiary organs: (a few examples)
- /AC/ Ad hoc committee
- /C./ Committee: standing, permanent , or main.
- /CN./ Commission
- /CONF./ Conference
- /WG./ Working group
- Examples: A/C.1 = General Assembly, First Committee.
- E/CN.4 = Publication of the Human Rights Commission, a sub-unit of the Economic and Social Council.
4. These elements may be included to indicate the nature of the document: (a few examples)
- /BUR/ General committee documents
- /DEC/ Text of a decision
- /INF/ Information series
- /L/ Limited Documents, not sent to Depositories. (UNC does not get these.)
- /PV/ Provisional verbatim transcripts of meetings (Proces verbaux)
- /R/ Restricted Documents, not sent to Depositories. (UNC does not get these.)
- /RES/ Resolution
- /SR/ Summary records of meetings
- Example: A/40/C.1/PV.3 means
General Assembly, First Committee, Transcript of the 3rd meeting of the 40th session.
5. These elements may be included to indicate modifications to the text of main documents (some examples):
- /Add. Addendum, an addition to the text of the main document.
- /Corr. Corrects an error in the original document.
- /Rev. Indicates a new version of a document.
- Example: A/40/C.1/PV.3/Corr.1 means
General Assembly, First Committee, Transcript of the 3rd meeting of the 40th session, Correction 1.
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Once you have a symbol number for a publication, you need to know
if it's shelved in the Reference Room or in the basement.
The majority of documents Model UN students will use will be shelved in the Reference Room.
SHELVED ON ROW 10, SIDE NEAREST THE WINDOWS:
- Documents from General Assembly sessions from the last ten years are shelved here.
Documents from earlier years are shelved in the basement, Row 194.
- Transcripts of Committee Meetings
A/42/C.1/PV./[numbers] etc. On bound records, committee numbers
are spelled out, e.g. First Committee, Second Committee, etc.
- Transcripts of plenary (full) meetings of the General Assembly: e.g. A/42/PV.1 to A/52/PV.1
- Resolutions:
- a. For the current two years, these are issued individually and have a symbol number
that looks like this: A/RES/50/[number]. These are kept in brown boxes on Row 10.
- b. In late December, a UN Press Release is published with the texts of all
resolutions passed during the session. These are shelved on Row 10, side away from the window, first vertical section.
- c. Resolutions are ultimately collected and published as the last Supplement to the General Assembly Official Records. The number of supplements may vary from session to session,
but resolutions are always in the last supplement.
- d. Copies of Resolutions from the 36th session (1981) to the present are
available on the UN website.
- e. Compilations of resolutions: Key Resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly,
1946-1996, Reference Reading Room KZ5006.2.K49 1997.
SHELVED IN THE BASEMENT:
- Publications from Ad-Hoc Committees (A/AC./)
- Conferences (A/CONF.)
- Commissions (A/CN.)
SHELVED ON WALL SHELVING 1-3
- Transcripts of meetings.
- From 1946-1995, bound, on Wall Shelving 1-3.
- From 1996- paperbound, Wall Shelving 3.
- Resolutions.
- These are issued as the First Supplement to the Economic and
Social Council Official Records. We currently have Resolutions for 1946-1996.
- We do not get these Resolutions as they are issued
individually--we only get the paperbound cumulation.
Currently, resolutions for 1996 are our latest in paper.
- Copies of Resolutions from 1982-1997 are available on the
UN website.
- SHELVED IN THE BASEMENT
All documents and publications are in the basement. Symbol numbers:
E/[numbers]; E/1978/[numbers]-E/1997/[numbers]
E/AC., E/C., E/CN. E/CONF., etc. etc.
SHELVED ON WALL SHELVING 5,6,7.
- Meeting records (S/PV.[numbers]) are all shelved in the Reference Room, Wall Shelving 6-7.
- Meetings have been numbered consecutively since 1946. We are currently in the 3700's (S/PV./3700).
- Meeting records from 1946-1995 are bound and shelved on Wall Shelving 6.
- Meeting records from 1996-present are unbound and shelved in brown boxes on Wall Shelving 7.
- Resolutions (S/RES/[numbers]) are shelved on Wall Shelving 7:
- From 1946-1987 these are bound; the spine is labeled: "Supplements, Resolutions, Decisions."
- From 1988-1994, the Resolutions are collected and published in yellow paperbacks,
kept in the brown boxes on Wall Shelving 6.
- From 1995-present (S/RES/970), the Resolutions are published individually
and shelved in the brown boxes on Wall Shelving 7.
- Copies of Resolutions from 1974-present are available on the UN website.
- Other documents and publications S/1996/[numbers].Wall Shelving 7.
SHELVED IN THE BASEMENT:
Other documents, publications, and letters: Symbol number format: S/[year]/[number].
Prior to 1994, the numbers for these publications were S/[numbers] without the year.
They were numbered starting with S/1 in 1946 and ending with S/26928 in 1994..
1. These are shelved in the basement. A few are cataloged and shelved in the
Reference Collection. Beginning in March 1998, records for these were added to the library
online catalog. The record includes the symbol number.
2. Publications from the Secretariat include many statistical items that are indexed
in the Index to International Statistics, shelved on Row 19. These documents are
also available as part of the microfiche set accompanying the Index to
International Statistics, from 1996.
Ask at the Reference Desk for assistance.
1. These are all shelved in the basement, Row 195.
1. Publications of these organs are all shelved in the basement:
CCPR/ CERD/ DP/ TD/ UNEP/ UNIDO/ WFC/, etc.
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- Background Notes,
from the U.S. Dept. of State: These are short overviews of all countries.
- CIA World Factbook
Issued annually, this includes information on
economics, politics, defense, geography, demographics of all countries in the world.
- Country Studies, from the Library of Congress:
This site currently contains studies on 85 countries.
A list of the country studies is provided; after choosing a country, you can browse the Table of Contents or do a search of the site.
- EmbassyWeb.com
Information on these pages varies but most have
current country information, statements of diplomatic officials,
newspaper stories, and links to other internet sources about the country.
- GPO Browse Topics,
from the US Government Printing Office, links to US government documents on the internet.
Arranged by subject, links to world regions, Asia, Africa, Europe, etc. are included.
- Online Intelligence Project
"is oriented to individuals and professionals with an interest in international news,
commerce, and references. It utilizes an intelligence service model to array resources
into departments and regional desks."
- Permanent Missions to the UN. Not all
countries have home pages here yet, but those that do include list of delegates, country
information as well as copies of speeches and statements made by delegation members in the
General Assembly, Security Council, etc.
- Regional and Country Information from the US Agency for International Development.
Includes links to resources by continent or country.