Researching the United
Nations: Finding the Organization's Internal Resource Trails
by Linda
Tashbook
Linda Tashbook is the Foreign International Comparative Law
Librarian at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law's Barco Law Library, a
Fulbright Senior Specialist, and an attorney in private practice. Prior to
becoming the foreign and international librarian, she was the Barco Law
Library's Electronic Services Librarian. Before law school, she worked as a
public librarian. Her Juris Doctor and Master of Library Science degrees are
from the University of Pittsburgh. Her Bachelor of Science degree is from
Texas Woman's University.
Published
October 2005
See the December 2006 update!
Table of Contents
Introduction
Standard
Queries
Types of research tools
Locate or investigate someone involved with the UN
To investigate an issue that the U.N. works on
To find out about the work of a particular U.N. entity
To research a treaty deposited with the U.N.
Glossaries
for UN functions
Finding Official Operating Documents of UN entities
Topical research guides & resource collections compiled by UN
entities
Guides to U.N. Research made by non-U.N. entities
Databases of information from throughout the U.N. system
Database
Training Manuals
Directories of UN staff and components: (a list in order by location,
topic, and entity)
Introduction
The United Nations is such a massive organization that its wide
array of processes and products require enough reference sources to warrant a
map and compass for navigation. As a map, here are suggested search
techniques for several standard types of queries and, as a compass, here
are the U.N.'s many diverse search tools organized into resource types.
Standard Queries
Types of research tools
For more information about the search tools and primary sources
that are published by the U.N., peruse some research guides by non-U.N. entities.
To locate or
investigate someone involved with the UN
To
investigate an issue that the U.N. works on
- Use the document research guides for
each of the UN's broad categories of UN work:
·
Peace & Security Documents Research
Guide
·
Economic & Social Development
Reports & Databases
·
Human Rights Documents Research Guide
·
International Law Documents Research
Guide
- Select from the list of Issues
on the U.N. Agenda. Once you are in the Web page for the
particular issue, you will see tabs at the top of the screen for research
tools including "documents", "events",
"learning", and "speeches" which all have important
information.
- Use your browser's edit and find
functions to jump through the alphabetical list of U.N. organizations
using the names of places or subject words. Once in any of those
organization pages, click on the link to publications.
- Look through the list of U.N. news outlets to find any that
follow the topic you are investigating.
- See if there is specialized topical research guide
produced by a unit of the U.N.
To find out
about the work of a particular U.N. entity
- Look in UNBISnet
using the name of the committee, office, organization, council, etc... as
a keyword phrase. Using the committee's name as author does not usually
yield thorough results in this particular database.
- Browse through the alphabetical
list of U.N. organizations. The committees are usually
components of the organizations in this list. So, you will have to
navigate.
- Use the index
to the U.N. Website to search for the committee by name or else
by the main areas of its work.
- Follow the leads on this page for locating U.N. documents and use
words from the committee name as search terms.
To research a
treaty deposited with the U.N.
- Subscribe to the U.N. Treaty Collection which "contains the texts of
over 50,000 bilateral and multilateral treaties and subsequent treaty
actions in their authentic language(s), along with a translation into
English and French, as appropriate." The subscription costs a
relatively minimal fee, depending on what type of institution is subscribing,
to offset database maintenance expenses. Full subscription information is
available here.
- Select a topic on the Documents by Global Issue page to get to the main
international agreements involved with that topic.
- Read the decisions of the International
Court of Justice interpreting the treaty that interests you.
- The International Law Commission has drafts of related
conventions and helpful explanations about the work of codifying
international law.
- The U.N. Office of Legal Affairs provides
technical assistance and general information about treaties: stages in the
treaty-making process, instructions for joining into an agreement and
registering it, a treaty reference guide, and U.N. requirements and
practices for treaty making.
- Search for press releases about the treaty.
Glossaries
for UN functions
Finding
Official Operating Documents of UN entities:
- Research Guide - tells about the types of documents
produced by the U.N. and any symbols or techniques necessary for
understanding those documents.
- Official Document System - a
collection of parliamentary writings and other administrative records.
- U.N.
Documents Centre - a browsing table showing the main bodies of
the U.N. with hyperlinks to all of the records, decisions, press releases,
etc... produced by each.
- Landmark General Assembly Documents
- digitized versions of prominent documents from the organization's
history.
Topical
research guides & resource collections compiled by UN entities
This list is only intended to contain true finding aides that
point to assorted information sources in a subject area. An alternative way to
find subject-based resources is to click on the 'Publications' link on the home
page of any U.N. department or other office
or program.
- ReliefWeb- Natural disasters and
complex emergencies from OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Human
Affairs).
- Refugees - demographics, health
issues, national policies, livelihoods...from the UNCHR (Commission on
Human Rights).
- Food & Agriculture -
descriptive alphabetical listing of more than fifty databases about
planting, growing, and producing food (From FAO the Food and Agriculture
Organization).
- Nutrition - country studies,
policy papers, news from SCN (the Standing Committee on Nutrition).
- Nuclear Science - access to databases, statistics, and
information services from IAEA (International Atomic Energy Association).
- Labor & Employment-
conventions, journals, statistics, studies, etc... from the ILO
(International Labor Organization).
- Labor Law - child labor, comparative
national laws, international law pathfinders from the ILO
- Women-
Women Watch guide to resources on gender equality and empowerment.
- Children- studies, statistics, and numerous databases
about child welfare from UNICEF (the UN Children's Emergency Fund).
- Globalization & Sustainable Development
- a browsing database of reports about employment, technology,
globalization, and other economics issues from the Global Program.
- Economics & Development -
research, prospects, and data about education, business, and sociology in
individual countries and regions from the World Bank.
- Investment Disputes - reports,
treaties, cases, and bibliographic references from the World Bank.
- Financial Management - research
about investments, banking, currency control, and other fiscal matters
from the International Monetary Fund.
- World Trade - digital library of
primary and analytical sources from UNCTAD (Conference on Trade and
Development).
- Environment - resources organized
for categories of researchers: governments, businesses, scientists,
children, & journalists from UNEP (Environmental Program).
- Climate- national reports, primary
documents, "issues quickfinder," technology from UNFCCC
(Framework Convention on Climate Change).
- Maritime issues - (click on link
to information and then Infogate) resources about shipping,
marine safety, piracy, ocean pollution...from the IMO (International
Maritime Organization).
- Illegal Drugs - trends, country reports, criminal law
enforcement data and analysis from UNODC (Office of Drugs and Crime).
- U.N. Public Information - answers to the most commonly
asked questions about U.N. programs and services for schools and public
visitors.
Guides to U.N. Research
made by non-U.N. entities
Databases of
information from throughout the U.N. system: (each listed by name, annotated,
and with a link to instructions for searching it)
- Index to Speeches (Library)
- Press Releases (public information)
- UNBISnet - The U.N.
Bibliographic Information System serves as a portal as well the catalog of
all U.N. publications and other holdings in the U.N. library. All Web
versions of U.N. publications can be accessed from this site.
- UN-I-QUE - (U.N. Info Quest) searchable index database of
regularly published reports. Search results show proper titles,
publication dates, U.N. classification numbers and, occasionally,
hyperlinks for documents.
- Infonation- Comparative and
collective statistics for all U.N. member countries on many issues.
Database
Training Manuals
Directories
of UN staff and components: (a list in order by location, topic, and entity)
These directories primarily list national representatives who
participate in the named entities. Where possible, staff directories are also
linked. Generic "contact us" links are purposely omitted because
those are not informational in themselves and they can already be efficiently
located.
Units subsidiary to the General Assembly:
Units under the Security Council:
Units under the Economic and Social Council:
(This list only includes the units that have online directories.)
International Court of Justice
: