United Nations: Getting Started

This guide is intended to facilitate research for United Nations documents and publications issued by the organization's main bodies and agencies. This page contains a listing of search engines which provide citations and links to full-text of UN documents and publications as well as bibliographic databases for United Nations organizations, including specialized agencies.

FAOBIB: FAO Catalogue Online.

Catalog of documents and publications produced by FAO since 1945, books added to the library since 1976, and serials held in the FAO library.

LABORDOC.

Bibliographic Database of Documents and Publications of the International Labour Organization (ILO) since 1919.

International Digest of Health Legislation.

Selection of national and international health legislation, with summaries in English. Links are provided to sites with the full text of the legislation if available. Supersedes the print version which was published from 1948-1999

JOLIS.

Catalog of the Joint World Bank-International Monetary Fund Library. Includes books, journal articles, working papers, conferences, and technical reports.

UNESBIB.

Bibliographic database of UNESCO documents/publications from UNESCO's regional offices, affiliated institutes, and the UNESCO library, from 1972.

UNISPAL: United Nations Information System on the Question of Palestine.

Searchable database of UN texts concerning the question of Palestine and other issues related to the Middle East situation.

WHOLIS.

Indexes all World Health Organization publications from 1948 onwards as well as articles from WHO-produced journals and technical documents from 1985 to the present.

WIPO Lex - World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)

WIPO Lex is a one-stop search facility for national laws and treaties on intellectual property (IP) of WIPO, WTO and UN Members. It also features related information which elaborates, analyzes and interprets these laws and treaties. It provides streamlined access to reference material of key importance for optimal information on the global intellectual property system.

AccessUN (Duke Only!)

Indexes United Nation documents from 1946. Most documents are included in the microfiche collection from 1984-2012 which is located in the Public Documents & Maps Dept.

International Development Organizations Web Archive (CDL/UC Berkeley)

Contains archived web sites for publications from International Government Organizations (IGOs) devoted to promoting economic development, gender equality, and reproductive health, as well as fighting poverty, and combating HIV/AIDS. It focuses on IGO country and regional offices from around the world, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

United Nations Human Rights Documents.

From the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

UNBISnet.

Rich database for UN documents & publications, from the UN Dag Hammarskjöld Library. Includes speeches, voting records, and resolutions. Citations from 1979, full text from 1993.

United Nations Documentation Center.

Includes full text resolutions and decisions, selected sessional documentation, speeches, and press releases from the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic & Social Council.

UN-I-QUE.

Ready reference database providing quick access to UN document symbols, focusing on documents of a recurrent nature: annual and periodic reports of commissions, legislative debate, etc.

United Nations Official Documents System (UN ODS).

Database and archive of United Nations documents since 1993. Also includes resolutions of the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council and the Trusteeship from 1946.