Finding United Nations Documents

The UIC Microforms Section on the 3rd floor of the Main Library has a large collection of UN documents on microfiche and microcard. To find the documents you need, you will need to use a finding aid such as an online database, print index volume, or CD ROM index that you can search by subject and get listings for UN documents. Here are the finding aids for UN documents (listed by date of coverage, most recent first):

• Access UN
  Covers: 1998-2000
  Location: Internet resource linked from the UIC Library Electronic Resources web page. (UIC only)
  Provides: Citations and call numbers for UN microfiche documents 1998-2000; some UN resolutions in full text.

• United Nations Index on CD ROM
  Covers: 1990-1998
  Location: 3rd Floor Documents Desk CD LAN Station Computers (ask librarian for assistance); clickable shortcut is in the "cd_lan" folder.
  Provides: Citations and call numbers for UN microfiche documents 1990-1998; some UN resolutions in full text.

• UNDEX and UNDOC
  Covers: 1973-1995
  Location: 3rd Floor Government Periodicals section, shelved by title.
  Provides: UNDOC, issued quarterly, lists the UN documents published during that year. Documents can be looked up by title, author and subject; the number in parentheses next to listings is the abstract number (see the front of Volume I for documents listed in order by abstract number.) UNDEX, issued monthly, provides a Subject Index (Series A), a Country Index (Series B), and a List of Documents (Series C).

• International Bibliography (IBID)
  Covers: 1985-1991
  Location: 3rd Floor United Nations Documents shelves, near Microforms (Call number: Z 6482 I52).
  Provides: Quarterly publication with information about UN documents published that year (but sometimes does not include the UN call number, which you may need to find in another source.) Documents can be looked up by title and subject. Also gives information about UN periodicals.

• PAIS International through IBIS
  Covers: 1972-2000
  Location:Internet resource linked from the UIC Library Electronic Resources web page. (UIC only)
  Provides: Citations for UN books and articles about the UN 1972-2000; note that this may not provide a correct call number (if a UN call number is not listed under the "Series Statement" field, you may have to check with UICCAT or other UN finding aids for a correct UN call number.)
  Hint: To limit to UN publications, click the "Search Fields" option, click the box for "Institution" and type in "United Nations". Use the "Combine" option to combine the results of separate keyword searches for your topic with the "institution=united nations" search.

• United Nations Documents Index
  Covers: 1950-1973
  Location: 3rd Floor Government Periodicals section, shelved by title.
  Provides: For 1950-1962, monthly lists of UN documents can be looked up using the subject index for the month; numbers given, such as "ILO 22," refer to the 22nd document under the ILO section's "list of documents and publications," where you will find an abstract giving the UN call number and a brief description. For 1963-1973, this system was changed to organize the listings by UN call number; subject indexes give the UN call number for finding the abstract.

• Checklist of the Microprint Edition
  Covers: 1946-1975
  Location: 3rd Floor United Nations Documents shelves, at the end of the UN Microcards Set.
  Provides: Four volumes each covering a particular set of years such as 1946-1960, 1961-1965, 1966-1970 and 1971-1975, plus a notebook covering 1976-1979. Listings in the front of the volumes are by the UN body (General Assembly, etc.) but very little other than the call number is included. The most useful section of these volumes is the Document Locator section in the back. Once you have a call number for a document, the Document Locator section tells you exactly which box of the UN Microcards it is located in.

• Checklist of United Nations Documents
  Covers: 1947-1949
  Location: 3rd Floor United Nations Documents shelves, near Microforms (Call number: JX 1977 A23).
  Provides: Each section deals with a different UN branch during the 1947-1949 period, such as the Commisson on the Status of Women or the Population Commission. The subject index gives an "entry number"; look under the "entry number" to find the call number and remaining citation information for the document. Note: if the document is not in the microfiche collection, ask the librarian for assistance in locating a copy of the document on microcard. (See also the microcards finding aid, "Checklist of the Microprint Edition.")

• PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service)
  Covers: 1915-2000
  Location: Print index volumes at 2nd Floor Reference area index table 24 South.
  Provides: Citations for UN books and articles about the UN 1915-2000; note that this may not provide a correct call number (you may have to check with other finding aids for a correct call number.)

Here is an example of the information you need to write down to find a UN document in the library:

Document Number:
A/54/560
(may also be called "Series Number" or "Call Number")

Document Date:
12 November 1999
(or you may just see a year listed such as "Year: 1999")

UN Body:
General Assembly
(or you may see something like: "Corporate Author: General Assembly--First Committee")

Title:
The Risk Of Nuclear Proliferation In The Middle East. Report Of The First Committee

Two United Nations depository libraries in the Chicago area which may have UN documents not available at UIC include:

Northwestern in Evanston
(847) 491-3130

Library of International Relations (IIT/Kent)
(312) 906-5622

Most UN documents, especially pre-1995, are not on the Internet. However, here places to look for more recent documents:

UN Site Search
(United Nations)

UN System Documents
(MSU)

United Nations Pathfinder
(Dag Hammarskjöld Library)

About the UN
(UIC Library)

Special topics:

East Timor
(United Nations)

Kosovo
(United Nations)

Subject guides and research guides by topic (such as "human rights" or "peacekeeping") can be found here:

UN Special Topics
(Dag Hammarskjöld Library)

United Nations Pathfinder
(Dag Hammarskjöld Library)

While some UN books and journals are listed in UICCAT most of the UN documents collection is not in UICCAT.

Another alternative is UN-I-QUE (United Nations Info Quest), the online catalog of the Dag Hammarskjold Library:

UN-I-QUE
(Dag Hammarskjöld Library)

However this interface can unfortunately be very slow, so if you're in a hurry other finding aids may be a better alternative.