Government Publications: United Nations

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Koerner Library has been a depository library for the United Nations since 1949. A DEPOSITORY LIBRARY receives publications from a government agency in exchange for certain services, such as providing the public with access to government information. The majority of the UN collection is housed in the Koerner Library. Most material published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture (FAO)Organization is located at Woodward Biomedical Library

This is a selective guide for both undergraduates and graduates who are trying to locate and access UN materials..

This guide focuses specifically on the United Nations and not on its associated agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The United Nations Documentation: Research Guide is a good place to start for an overview and introduction to the types of material published by the United Nations.

The United Nations has its own unique system of documentation symbols. The UN Guide to UN Documentation Symbols will help you to understand them.

The United Nations has put together some introductory training guides to help navigate some of their products such as UNBISNet and UNDOC.

Workshops | How To Cite | Course Materials

FAQ

What is the United Nations?

The United Nations is a cooperative organization made up of currently 192 member countries . It's role is to maintain international peace and security, mediate conflicts and promote collaboration between its members. It came into existence on October 24, 1945.

What are the principal UN organs?
There are 6 principal organs, they include:

General Assembly
The General Assembly is the main deliberative organ of the United Nations. It's the only organ in which all member states are represented by equal votes.Take a look at the General Assembly UN Research Guide

Security Council
According to Article 24 of the Charter, the Security Council's primary role is the responsibility for maintaining peace and security. The Council has 15 members-- five permanent members (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and United States) and 10 elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms.
UN Security Council Research Guide.

Economic and Social Council The Economic and Social Council, which primarily deals with social, cultural and health matters as well as human rights and fundamental freedoms, also has a coordinating function for the work of the United Nations and the specialized agencies. The Council has 54 members which are elected by the General Assembly for a three-year term.
Take a look at the UN Economic and Social Council Research Guide.

Secretariat
Headed by the Secretary-General, the Secretariat carries out tasks as directed by the other principal organs.

Trusteeship Council
The Trusteeship Council has not operated since 1994 when Palau attained independence. Proposals have been made to reactivate the Council or a body that would perform similar functions.

Why would I want to use United Nations material?

The UN is a major publisher of material covering topics such as the environment, human rights, peacekeeping, and international law just to name a few.

Excellent primary source material.

Authoritative.

UN material is relevant to many subject areas including Political Science, History, Economics and Law.

Where would I find UN material?

You will find UN material throughout the UBC libraries depending on the subject matter. A large portion of the material is located on the 2nd Floor of the Koerner Library in the Government Publications Section. Some of the documents that you'll find here include Committee Reports, Meeting Papers, Special Committee Reports and Official Records from the major UN bodies.

The UN Documentation website is also a good place to go for documents such as Resolutions and Reports from the main UN organs.

Print Resources

Basic Research Tools

The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations REF JZ4970.O93 2007

Yearbook of the United Nations JX1977.A37.Y4 and online

Very detailed summaries of debates and actions taken by the UN and its main bodies published annually since 1946.

Encyclopedia of the United Nations REF KZ4968.M66 2002

Good introductory overview of the components, operations and terminology of the UN. Also includes full text of basic UN documents.

Annual review of United Nations affairs JX1977.A1.A5

Includes a chronological survey of UN-related events, the UN Charter, rules of procedure for each organ, and membership tables for each of the UN bodies.

Encyclopedia of the United Nations and international agreements REF KZ4968.O84 2003 4 vols.

Includes articles on every country, organization, office, and department within the United Nations as well as on every nongovernmental organization, committee, and joint effort (such as peacekeeping operations) that is in any way connected to the United Nations. It also defines every international treaty since the founding of the League of Nations and gives lengthy quotations or the full text of many treaties, depending on their importance.

United Nations Handbook REF JX1977.A1.N48

A comprehensive and ready reference guide to the United Nations system and its work.

It contains information on the six principal organs of the UN, its subsidiary organs, related agencies and programmes, and provides current information about the basis of their aims, structures and membership.

It also provides an overview of the activities of the UN family organizations as defined in the relevant mandates

Indexes

Bibliographic Indexes

How to find UN Documents in the Library - start with an index!

United Nations Documents Index (Title varies)

The UN produced index to their publications. It's one of the principal tools for searching and locating UN materials. It has undergone many name changes.Koerner Library has holdings from 1950-present.

ZJX 1977.A2.U45 Koerner GP I&A
Holding from 1950-1973.
ZJX1977.A2.U453 Koerner GP I&A
Holding from 1970-1978.
ZJX1977.A2.U455 Koerner GP I&A
Holdings from 1998-current.

UNBISnet

Catalogue of UN documents and publications indexed by the Dag Hammarskjold Library and the Library of the United Nations Office at Geneva.
Primary online index to UN documentation published since 1979.
Searchable by author, title, subject or UN number.
Indexes UN documents from all major parliamentary bodies, and provides a growing amount of full text resources in the 6 official languages of the UN.
Includes Voting Records for all resolutions which were adopted - either without a vote or by roll-call or recorded vote - by the General Assembly beginning with its 38th session (1983- ) and the Security Council beginning with its first year (1946- ); and Index to Speeches made in the General Assembly beginning with its 38th session (1983- ), the Security Council beginning with its 38th year (1983- ), the Economic and Social Council beginning in 1983 and the Trusteeship Council beginning with its 15th special session (1982).
Updated daily.

United Nations Official Documents System

Full text resolutions and decisions and selected sessional documents, speeches, and press releases from the UN General Assembly, Security Council, Economic & Social Council since 1992.

Proceedings Indexes

Index to the Proceedings of... There are indexes to the proceedings of each of four principal organs. These are detailed indexes to the Official Records for each organ including subject, speaker, and country/corporate name indexes.

Index to the proceedings of the General Assembly

JX1977.A5 GovPubs I&A

Index to the proceedings of the Security Council

ZJX1977.A44 GovPubs I&A

Index to the proceedings of the Economic and Social Council

HC79.I44

Index to the proceedings of the Trusteeship Council

JX4021.U32 GovPubs I&A

Roll Call Votes

Beginning in 1975 the Index to Proceedings volumes for the General Assembly, Security Council, and the Trusteeship Council include tables of roll call votes.

The Canadian Peace Research Institute published cumulations of the UN General Assembly roll call votes in the titles listed below:

Nations on record: United Nations General Assembly roll call votes (1946-1973)

Nations on record: United Nations General Assembly roll-call votes, 1974/77-1984/86

Official Records

The Official Records of the United Nations contain a wide range of documents, including final versions of meeting records, resolutions, decisions, agendas, and key documents presented to meeting participants. They also include in the case of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council, regular reports on the activities of subsidiary organs or agencies whose activities they are responsible for coordinating. They usually consist of 3 parts: meeting or plenary records; supplements which contain resolutions and decisions, and reports of major UN bodies, committees and commissions as well as the budget and financial reports; and annexes, reprints of related or other important documents. They are indexed in depth in the various Indexes to the Proceedings...

Official records - General Assembly

Official records- Supplement. United Nations. Security Council

Official records. United Nations. Economic and Social Council. Supplement

Official Records=Proces/verbaux officiels/United Nations. Trusteeship Council

Statistics

Statistical Databases

UN Comtrade

Detailed trade statistics reported to the UN Statistics Division from 130 countries: imports, exports, trading partners, and commodities from 1962-

Proquest Statistical Insight

Excellent database for locating government statistics - US government statistical publications, as well as those of international intergovernmental organizations such as the UN, European Union, OECD, IMF, Asian Development Bank, etc.

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

Citations, abstracts, and indexing of the literature in political science, international relations, law, and public administration and policy. About 1500 journal titles from around the world are monitored for coverage.

World Development Indicators Online

The World Bank has collected statistical data for over 550 development indicators, and time series data from 1960- for over 200 countries and 18 country groups. Data includes social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators.

UN Data

UNdata covers all countries and areas, drawing selectively on statistics from throughout the UN system to bring them together in a common platform and interface using global statistical standards.

UN Development Programme Human Development Reports

Full text of UNDP Human Development Reports, from 1990 to the next to most current year, plus national Human Development Reports and an excellent statistics section on industrialized and developing countries.
Click on Statistics to access statistical data from the Human Development Report.

United Nations Demographic and Social Statistics

Statistical and demographic information for countries and the world compiled by the UN.

Treaties

Treaty Information

Definitions of key terms used in the UN Treaty Collection.

United Nations Treaty Series Database

The UN has produced a Treaty Research Guide which provides a brief introduction to the Treaty Series. The United Nations Treaty Series is available online via the United Nations Treaty Collection database as well as in print

Includes full text of bilateral and multilateral treaties and subsequent actions, and texts of recently deposited multilateral treaties. Includes text of the Status of Multilateral Treaties deposited with the Secretary-General and the United Nations Treaty Series Cumulative Index

United Nations Treaty Body Database

Contains all documents issued since 1992 by the six UN Treaty Monitoring Committees: the Human Rights Committee; the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the Committee against Torture; the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women; and the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

Council of Europe Treaty Series

News Sources

Access World News

Articles cover politics, economics, culture, business, science, technology, and the environment from Africa, Asia, Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Pacific Rim, Central and South America, and the Middle East.

LexisNexis Academic

One of the world's premier fulltext news, government, legal, finance and business information services.

Journal of the United Nations

A weekly programme of meetings and agendas.

Provides links to documents under consideration.
For past issues, click here.

UN News Center

Current news, including briefing statements, press releases, webcasts archive, radio broadcasts...

UN Pulse

An alert service for selected just-released UN online information, major reports, publications and documents

Citations

Online resources

Take a look at the research guide Citing government publications and How to cite United Nations documents and publications.

OWL(Online Writing Lab) at Purdue is also a helpful site for citation styles.

University of North Texas Libraries - General Guidelines for Citing Government Publications

Helpful print resources include:

Complete guide to citing government information resources: a manual for social science & business research J9.5.C445 Quick Reference

United Nations editorial manual: a compendium of rules and directives on United Nations editorial style, publication policies, procedures and practice JX1977.8.D6.U57 REF

See Rule 20.7 in The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, published and distributed by the Harvard Law Review Assoc.

Last Modified 2:28 pm, Oct 11 2011

The University of British Columbia

Government Publications: United Nations