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United Nations Collection

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UNITED NATIONS COLLECTION

UN Depository Library Program

Depository Program
Yale library has been a depository for United Nations publications since 1945.  The UN depository collection includes:
  • official records of the main organs of the United Nations
  • sales publications
  • periodicals
  • United Nations Treaty Series
  • United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Environment Programme publications
  • other generally distributed documents and publications of the United Nations.
In addition to the depository collection, Yale library holds the microfiche collection United Nations Documents and Publications, 1945-2006, which includes both depository and non-depository materials. Use the database Access UN to find items in this microfiche collection. The collection includes documentation from the six main bodies of the United Nations—General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, Secretariat and International Court of Justice. Includes official records, mimeographed or masthead documents, sales publications, limited, for participants only, and restricted documents and documents emanating from sessional and standing committees, functional commissions, conferences and regional bodies.

Other United Nations Depositories
 
Other United Nations depository libraries in the Northeast  include Brown University, Boston Public Library, New York University, Columbia University, Cornell University, and Princeton University.  Consult the complete list of United Nations depository libraries for more information.

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HOW TO FIND UNITED NATIONS DOCUMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS

Print Catalogs and Indexes

Checklist of United Nations Documents

United Nations Documents Index.  1950-1973

International Bibliography: Publications of Intergovernmental Organizations. 1974-1978

UNDEX: United Nations Documents Index.

UNDOC: Current Index; United Nations Documents Index.

Indexes to Proceedings

The "indexes to proceedings" for the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council and Trusteeship Council provide:

(1) a comprehensive subject index to all the documents (reports, letters, meeting records, resolutions, etc.) issued by the body in question during a particular session/year; and
(2) an index to speeches delivered before the forum in question during a particular session/year.

The UN provides a useful, in-depth description of the indexes to proceedings.

UNBISnet: Index to Speeches (1983-)
Citations to speeches and links to full text.

Indexes to Proceedings in print:

Resolutions

General Assembly (from 1946)
Security Council (from 1946)
Economic and Social Council (from 1946)

UN Official Documents System
The official record version of United Nations resolutions and decisions adopted by the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council from 1946-1993 are in the “Resolutions” database, accessible only from the advanced search screen.



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Voting Records
 
UNBISnet: Voting Records
The voting records for all resolutions that were adopted, either without a vote or by roll-call or recorded vote, by the General Assembly and the Security Council.  Links to the full text of resolutions are provided.  Records are retrievable by resolution symbol (e.g. A/RES/43/2), keyword (e.g. human rights), or vote date (YYYYMMDD).

United Nations General Assembly Voting Data, 1946-2008
Data can be downloaded or analyzed online.

United Nations Roll Call Data, 1946-1985 (ICPSR)
Data that can be downloaded for use in a statistical software package.

Voting Practices in the United Nations (U.S. State Department)
Annual report assesses the voting practices of the governments of UN member states into the General Assembly and Security Council, and evaluates the actions and responsiveness of those governments to U.S. policy on issues of special importance to the United States.

Voting Patterns in the United Nations
A bibliography of sources and some digitized State Department reports.

Print resources:

Nations on Record: United Nations General Assembly Roll-Call Votes
Published collections of the United Nations General Assembly roll call votes, in several volumes.

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

Statistical Publications

UNdata

Orbis Yale Library Catalog

ProQuest Statistical Insight provides the most detailed subject access to United Nations statistical publications.  Some publications are available full text in pdf and some tables are provided in excel.

Treaty Series

United Nations Treaty Series 1947-present.

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UNITED NATIONS SPECIALIZED AGENCIES

The United Nations system of organizations is a decentralized system of intergovernmental agencies; each one is autonomous and has its own constitution and its own specific organizational structure, budget and documentation.  Some agencies operate a depository system for their documentation; most of them publish and/or sell their documentation through commercial vendors or operate their own sales systems.

Yale library is a depository for one of the specialized agencies, the Food and Agriculture Organization (see this description of the FAO collection.

Search Orbis for other United Nations specialized agencies collected at Yale.

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Depository documents are available for use by the public.

How to access Government Documents
Phone: (203) 432-3300
E-mail: govdoc@yale.edu