United Nations Research Guide

The Social Sciences Library has a comprehensive collection of documents from the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat. In addition, the collection includes documents from the many specialized committees of the UN. Depending on the type and the date of material needed, the documents may be in paper, microform, on disc, or online. Below are some starting points for UN research. Please contact the Social Sciences Library for additional assistance.

Use the guides listed on the left for more specific information.

Understanding how the UN is structured will help you understand its activities and what agency within the UN system is likely to work on the topic you are researching.

• United Nations Yearbook
  The primary reference source about the United Nations family of agencies and its activities.

• About the United Nations
  An "introduction to the structure & work of the United Nations". Select one of the links to the major bodies for additional detail. Includes online tours.

• Facts about the United Nations

  • Background on the General Assembly
  • Background on the Economic and Social Council
  • The Security Council

• The UN in Brief
  From the United Nation's Department of Public Information

• The World Map of UN Web sites
  A map with links to UN offices around the world

• Charter of the United Nations

In addition to the main bodies of the UN (General Assembly, Security Council, etc.), there is a UN "system" of agencies with special missions. There are subsidiary agencies with programs that report directly to the Secretary General, such as UNICEF or the UN Development Programme. There are also specialized and autonomous agencies such as the World Health Organization or International Telecommunications Union that have their own governing structure.

Links to the web sites of these agencies can be found at the Official Web Site Locator for the United Nations System of Organizations.

Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)

Many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have official relationships with the United Nations. These organizations work with and lobby the UN agencies related to their areas of interest.

• NGO Links
  A good alphabetic and subject list of UN-related NGOs around the world.

• Selected links to international organizations
  Extensive list of links to Web sites of non-governmental organizations around the world maintained by the Union of International Organizations.

Print Resources

• Basic Facts about the United Nations

• Understanding the United Nations : the official guidebook
  A glossy overview of the UN, but it has an excellent chart of the UN system in the back of the book.

• AccessUN
  The only online index to UN documents that includes coverage back to 1946. This is the primary access point to the print and microfiche collections in the University Libraries. Has full text to UN Resolutions and some links to full text.

• UNBISNet
  The UN's own index with links to full text in the ODS (Official Document System, see below) where available. Coverage includes:

  • masthead documents and official records, 1989-to date
  • voting records, 1946-to date
  • speeches, 1983-to date

• ODS
  The Official Document System is a digital archive to UN documents. Includes both masthead documents and official records.

• Index to the Proceedings
  Issued at the end of each session by the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, and Trusteeship Council. Includes a subject index, index to speeches, and index to resolutions.

• The United Nations Documents Index (and it's predecessors (UNDOC/UNDEX)
  Available in the Social Sciences Library Reference Collection 2^nd floor Paterno Library.

The working documents and many sales publications are filed by United Nations Series Symbol, an agency-based classification system. The United Nations series symbols reflect both the body which produces the document as well as the type of publication it is. The symbols are composed of uppercase letters, combined with Arabic numerals. Roman numerals, when used, designate the number of the session. A slash (/) separates the components of the symbol.

The first letter(s) indicates the main organ of the United Nations to which the document was submitted:
A/ - General Assembly
E/ - Economic and Social Council
S/ - Security Council
T/ - Trusteeship Council
ST/ - Secretariat

Special symbols have also been designed for certain subsidiary organs of the United Nations, for instance:
CCPR/ - Human Rights Committee
TD/ - United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
UNEP/ - United Nations Environment Programme

After the first slash, the second series of symbols indicates the sub-body within the main organ which produced the document:
...AC./ - Ad Hoc Committee or similar body
.../C./ - Standing, permanent, main committee
.../CN./ - Commission
.../CONF./ - Conference
.../GC./ - Governing Council
.../PC./ - Preparatory Committee
.../SC./ - Subcommittee
.../Sub./ - Subcommission
.../WG./ - Working Group
.../WP./ - Working Party

Subsidiary bodies are given an Arabic numeral which usually is assigned in order of their establishment. The General Assembly main committees, for example, may be identified by the following symbols:
A/C.1/ - First Committee (political and security)
A/C.2/ - Second Committee (economic and financial)
A/C.3/ - Third Committee (social, humanitarian and cultural)
A/C.4/ - Fourth Committee (trusteeship)
A/C.5/ - Fifth Committee (administrative and budgetary)
A/C.6/ - Sixth Committee (legal)
A/SPC/ - Special Political Committee

The following letters are added to the basic series symbols to denote the nature of the document. Examples:
.../INF/ - information series
.../L. - limited distribution documents
.../MIN. - minutes
.../NGO/ - statements by nongovernmental organizations
.../PC/ - preparatory committee
.../PET/ - petitions
.../PV./ - verbatim records
.../RES./ - mimeographed texts of adopted resolutions
.../SR./ - summary records of meetings
.../WG./ - working group
.../WP./ - working paper

For more detailed information, see United Nations Documentation : Research Guide