United Nations Scholars' Workstation: Library Catalogs and Databases for UN Information

Library Catalogs and Databases

Finding UN Documents at Yale

Orbis
The Yale University Library catalog, contains the holdings for United Nations serials and depository materials received since 1998. Orbis also represents all of the secondary literature--books, journals, and microforms about the United Nations--that the Library owns. United Nations documents housed in the Government Documents & Information Center (in the Mudd Library) circulate; please consult this page for details about access. MORRIS (Lillian Goldman Law Library)
The Yale Law Library holds selected materials about the United Nations, particularly the International Court of Justice.

UN Databases (United Nations Dag Hammarskjold Library)

UN-I-QUE: United Nations Info Quest,
A ready reference database created to respond to frequently asked questions, focusing on documents and publications of a recurrent nature. This database is an easy way of identifying the United Nations symbol; the United Nations symbol is the more effective method of searching the United Nations Official Documents System (a full text database).

United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBISnet)
Catalogue of UN documents and publications indexed by the Dag Hammerskjöld Library, United Nations (New York), and the Library of the United Nations Office at Geneva. Also included are commercial publications and other non-UN sources held in the collection of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library. The coverage of UNBISnet is from 1979 onward, however, older documents are being added to the catalogue on a regular basis. UNBISnet also provides instant access to a growing number of full text resources in the six official languages of the UN (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish), including resolutions adopted by the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Security Council from 1946 onward. UNBISnet also includes separate searches for voting records and speeches. 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 34th session (1979-) and the Security Council beginning with its 1st year (1946-). Links to the full text of resolutions are provided. 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). Links to the full text of speeches are provided.

United Nations Official Documents System
The database comprises the full text of all United Nations parliamentary documents, including resolutions and decisions issued at United Nations Headquarters in New York and the United Nations Office at Geneva since 1993 (with selected earlier coverage), and at the United Nations Office at Vienna since 1997, as well as documents from the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific beginning in 1997. In addition to parliamentary documentation, all currently valid United Nations administrative issuances (ST/AI/-, ST/IC/- and ST/SGB/-) are included in the database. 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 onwards are stored separately on ODS in the “United Nations resolutions” database.

AccessUN
AccessUN provides bibliographic access to the Readex United Nations Documents and Publications microfiche collection, which includes United Nations documents and publications published from 1945 to 2006. Access is by subject, title, author, document number, document type, UN sales number, and country. Full text of the General Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Social Council resolutions are appended to the bibliographic citation. Use the document numbers to request items from the microfiche collection housed in the Government Documents and Information Center.

Research Bibliographies and Guides

United Nations Documentation: Research Guide, Dag Hammerskjöld Library, United Nations (New York)
Provides an overview of the various types of documents and publications issued by the Organization (e.g. reports, resolutions, meeting records, sales publications, press releases) and gives guidance as to where to find them in either electronic or paper format and how to work with them.

UNBIS Thesaurus, Dag Hammerskjöld Library, United Nations (New York)
The UNBIS Thesaurus contains the terminology used in subject analysis of documents and other materials relevant to United Nations programmes and activities. The thesaurus terms are used in UNBISNet.

United Nations Depository Libraries, Dag Hammerskjöld Library, United Nations (New York)
Describes the Depository Library System and provides a link to the List of Depository Libraries Receiving UN Materials organized by country.

Yale University Library | MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies | UN Depository Libraries