Skip to content
Penn State University Libraries
University Library Home > Social Sciences and Law

United Nations Research Guide

 

Contact

Helen Sheehy
Title: Head Social Sciences Library


Subject Specialist:
Law, Political Science, International Affairs
814-863-1347
e-mail: hms2@psu.edu

Social Sciences Library

 

About the Collections

The Social Sciences Library has a comprehensive collection of documents from United Nations bodies:

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. This guide includes some starting points for UN research. Please contact the Social Sciences Library for additional assistance.

Structure of the UN

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

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

 

Print Resources

Key Databases

Note: [Penn State Libraries] indicates a Libraries' resource available to researchers with a Penn State Access Account.

  • AccessUN [Penn State Libraries]
    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.

  • UNBISNet
    A UN index with links to full text in the ODS (Official Document System) where available. Coverage includes:

    • masthead documents and official records back to 1989
    • voting records back to 1946
    • speeches back to 1983

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

Print Indexes

  • 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 and UNDEX)
    Available in the Social Sciences Library Reference Collection 2nd floor Paterno Library.

UN Call Numbers

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

More Resources

The UN and Non-Governmental Organizations

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.

The DPI-NGO (Department of Public Information, Non-Governmental Organizations) website provides information about these organizations as well as a searchable directory of non-governmental organizations.

Other NGO resources include:

 

UN Research Guides