United Nations - Government Documents and Information - Yale University Library Subject Guides at Yale University Library

United Nations Collection

Yale University 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.

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

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Understanding the United Nations

Basic Facts About the United Nations

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Yale Government Documents News

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Featured resource

Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Original Drafting Materials
Digitized primary sources from the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1946-1948. From the UN Office at Geneva Archives.

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General sources for United Nations documents and publications

Orbis (Yale Library Catalog)
United Nations Official Documents System (ODS)
Full text of United Nations official documentation, 1993-present with some older materials. ODS also provides access to the resolutions of the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship Council from 1946 onwards.
UNBISnet - UN Bibliographic Information System
Catalog of United Nations documents and publications indexed by the UN's libraries in NYC and Geneva; coverage is from 1979-onward, with older documents added regularly. Also provides some full-text access, including resolutions adopted by the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and the Security Council from 1946 onward.
Access UN (1945-present)
Materials in Access UN may be available in full text online, or are available in print or microfiche.
United Nations Sales Publications
Browse publications by subject, agency, and more. Some titles are available in full text online; check Orbis to see if Yale has the publication in print.
UN Member States On the Record
Provides access to official documents reflecting the views of United Nations Member States. Information available for each Member State includes: the key documents related to its membership in the UN; statements made before the principal organs; draft resolutions sponsored; periodic reports submitted on Human Rights conventions, and more.
United Nations Documentation - Research Guide
Very helpful guide from the UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library - especially useful for beginning research into UN activities.
UN-I-QUE (UN Info Quest)
Provides quick access to document symbols/sales numbers for UN materials (1946 onwards). Does not give full bibliographic details, but focuses on documents and publications of a recurrent nature, e.g., annual/sessional reports of committees/commissions; annual publications; reports periodically/irregularly issued; reports of major conferences; statements in the General Debate; etc.

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Print catalogs and indexes to UN documents

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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.

Index to Proceedings - Electronic Version
The print Indexes ceased publication in 2011. The Index to Proceedings of the General Assembly, the Security Council, and the Economic and Social Council are available online, 2009-present.
Index to Proceedings of the Economic and Social Council (in print)
Index to Proceedings of the General Assembly (in print)
Index to Proceedings of the Security Council (in print)
Index to Proceedings of the Trusteeship Council (in print)
UNBISnet: Index to Speeches (1983- )
Citations to speeches and links to full text.

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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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Statistics and data

UNdata
UNdata provides a single search interface for multiple statistical databases from the UN.
COMTRADE
Commodity Trade Statistics Database from the Statistics Division of the UN.
Millennium Development Goals Indicators
Presents the official data, definitions, methodologies and sources for more than 60 indicators to measure progress towards the Millennium Development Goals.
Orbis (Yale Library Catalog)
Use Orbis to identify statistical publications from the UN.
ProQuest Statistical Insight
Provides detailed subject access to UN statistical publications. Some publications are available as full-text PDFs; some tables are provided in Excel.

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Treaties

United Nations Treaty Collection
The UN Treaty Collection includes all multilateral treaties deposited with the Secretary-General of the United Nations and those formerly deposited with the League of Nations, plus bilateral and multilateral treaties registered with and published by the United Nations Secretariat in accordance with Article 102.

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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 and 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 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.
Nations on Record: United Nations General Assembly Roll-Call Votes
Published collections of the United Nations General Assembly roll call votes, in several volumes.
Index to Proceedings
Beginning in 1975 the Index to Proceedings volumes for the General Assembly, Security Council, and the Trusteeship Council include tables of roll call votes.