INTL-DOC is the discussion list for international document librarians and users of IGO material.
GODORT's International Documents Task Force (IDTF) has a helpful website. Several excellent guides are available here as well as good presentations.
A comprehensive web site for international agencies and information on the web is available at the University of Michigan Documents Center. The site begins with "Comprehensive" sites and is then arranged alphabetically with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation being the first entry.
The Michigan State University Libraries have an excellent
international organizations guide to available
here. Mississippi
State has an excellent guide to content by and about the UN.
Don't forget the hard copy Yearbook of International Organizations for more detailed information on these organizations. The Yearbook is issued by the Union of International Associations, but is distributed by Bowker in the U.S. The four volume set is expensive and is also available in CD-ROM.
Volume 1 of the hard copy reference standard Europa World
Yearbook provides good
coverage of International Organizations.
A recent survey identified these as the leading sources for
international statistics:
Strictly speaking, "international" refers to several countries rather than just one. Here, "international" is used to refer to organizations of countries while "foreign" would refer to a country other than the United States and usually a particular country. Most users, when asking for international material, are really interested in a particularly country first, such as Germany, and then a grouping of countries second such as the European Community. Obviously, there is considerable overlap. International statistics, for example, may then be used to gather information about a particular country as well as for comparing countries.
Often, we use international government documents and publications to locate statistical information. Remember that not all such information is reliable or valid. Countries differ notably in their ability to gather, analyze, and report statistical information. Even the United States cannot accurately count its population. Some countries may not be able to provide current information or may use "guesstimates" to make the country or the ruling class look good. Political manipulation of data to make things look good is a problem for statistical agencies in both developed and developing countries. Typically, the newest international or foreign statistics are several years old.
Be careful when users need to compare data from country A with that
for
country B. Data collection methods and definitions often differ and
make
comparisons difficult or even impossible. Without operational
definitions and agreement on those definitions [without comparability],
data for the same measure might be quite different. For example,
international trade data is weakened by the fact that different
countries use different cargo valuation equations. Not all data will be
recent, produced on a regular basis, or reported in a timely manner.
The
more that you know about
the
mission, goals and objectives of an international organization, the
better
you will know what sort of information it is likely to gather. Too, the
more known about the country, the better to judge data quality.
Ideally, the user would find and compare different indicators for the
same variables to validate statistics.
Be familiar with organization membership. For example, OECD statistics focus on members. European Union statistics focus on the European Union. The Europa Yearbooks do a good job of listing members of many international organizations.
Understanding definitions is essential in using international statistical sources. Users need to be familiar with definitions if they are to understand and use statistics successfully. Not all definitions are intuitive. For example, some statistical sources are organized by level of economic development so it can be helpful to know if Iceland, for example, is an industrial country. Different sources may classify the same country differently.
Be grateful that international organizations, as with particular
national
governments, are rapidly moving information and data from hard copy
publications to
their websites. This is a boon for librarians and users. It also means
that many users will miss the needed mediation as they access content
directly.
The League existed from 1919 to 1946. InfoPlease
has a good, easily read summary of the League, including success and
failure. The League was established after World War I to maintain peace
and
encourage international cooperation. The League's charter, the
Covenant, was
part of the Versailles Peace Treaty. The League ceased in 1946 with the
creation of the UN. The major bodies of the League were the Assembly,
the Council
(similar to
the UN Security Council), and the Secretariat. Technical bodies
included the
Economic and Financial Organization and the Health Organization. The
League also had specialized agencies (autonomous bodies)
connected
with it. The International Labour Organization is an example.
The Assembly Proceedings were published separately for the first three sessions and appeared as special supplements to the Official Journal. Resolutions passed in Plenary Sessions were also published this way.
Records for the Council were first published separately and then in the Official Journal. The League supported Committees, Commissions, and Conferences. Committee and Conference reports were usually printed as Assembly or Council documents.
League documents are often administrative while publications are more substantial and general. League publications are similar to UN sales publications. Many libraries include these in their public catalog. Sales class numbers usually begin with the issue year, a Roman number for topic, and the number of this publication in that series.
Document numbering schemes are complicated and require some inquiry. Most library collections will not hold League documents. University Publications of America has produced a large film collection of League publications and documents and some research libraries hold it.
Hans Aufricht's Guide to League of Nations Publications (Z 6473 .A85 1951) remains the single best bibliographical source and is an example of meticulous bibliographic scholarship. The other essential guide is Consolidated Catalog of League of Nations Publications Offered for Sale by Mary Eva Birchfield.
Mike McCaffrey-Noviss has prepared
an
excellent web guide to "Using League of Nations Documents and
Publications." Indiana University hosts the League of Nations
Photo Archive. Princeton University Library hosts a primer for
League of Nations documents research.
Northwestern
University has a digital full-text collection of nearly 300 League
documents.
Much demand for UN material will come from high school and college
students involved in model UN programs. Typically, groups of students
are
asked to represent particular countries and then lobby and vote in a
prototypical manner on a variety of issues. The United
Nations hosts a Model UN site with excellent information of what
and how to do as well as a solid introduction to information-seeking. The American Model United Nations
International provides useful information on how model UN's
meetings
work.
Model UNers typically need:
The Annual Review of United Nations Affairs began in 1949. Published by Oceana, it includes reprints of key UN documents.
Basic Facts About the United Nations, (1947-) issued by the UN Department of Public Information is a general introduction to the role and function of the UN and related agencies. The digital version does not contain all of the content of the hard copy edition.
Chronology and Fact Book of the United Nations is an irregular supplement to the Oceana Annual Review of United Nations Affairs. It contains:The Directory of United Nations Documentary and Archival Sources introduces the UN information system. Contains extensive annotated bibliographies. Somewhat dated.
The Europa World Year Book, in volume 1, contains detailed and quite current descriptions of UN and other IGOs. An excellent place to begin.
Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Relations (JX 1977 .O83 1990) is especially useful for older IGO information. Also includes:
Everyone's United Nations concisely summarizes
major
events in UN history. Good for identifying forum and year when
something took
place, but dated.
Journal of the United Nations is a daily listing of
meetings at UN Headquarters in NY, brief summaries of previous day
meetings,
and announcements. The UN News
website includes information from the Journal.
The New York Times includes extensive coverage of the UN.
UN Chronicle began in 1950. Title varies. Quarterly periodical with summaries of recent activities, including major resolutions, speeches, and some voting records. The web edition includes selected articles.
United Nations: How it Works and What it Does (JX 1977 .L8 1994) is a reasonably good introduction.
United Nations Handbook , annual hard copy, published by the New Zealand Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade (1961-) provides much organizational information.
Who's Who in the United Nations and Related Agencies includes biographies of important officers as well as indexes by nationality and organization.
Yearbook of the United Nations (JX 1977 .A3744)
(1949-) is
an annual detailed analysis of activities. Detailed reviews for all
major
IGOs. There are extensive references in the footnotes. Contains
full
text of major GA and Security Council resolutions. Some voting records.
Many
specific references to UN documents and publications. Good subject
index.
Not current. Time lag is a problem with nearly all UN publications. The
2002
edition is the most recent [good summary here, but content is hard
copy]. There is also a UN Yearbook Collection on CD-ROM which includes
about 50 yearbooks.
Guide
to United Nations Research [Penn State] is a very useful
introduction to locating information via UN publications.
The University of California at Berkeley has a excellent guide to UN documents
and
publications.
The UN International Drug Control Programme website provides a comprehensive list of links to UN and agency sites.
The Official Website Locator for the UN is an alphabetic index of websites of the United Nations System of Organizations. An essential site.
The UN News Centre provides access to press briefings and other current information. The UN Multimedia website covers the various news services and provides access to a photo archive of about 250,000 photographs, including thematic collections and a pictorial history of the UN. The UN Wire, provided by the UN Foundation, is a daily news summary covering the UN and international relations. Stories are short and usually provide links to more detailed information. Free, but registration is required.
The Cyberschoolbus
is the UN website for kids and others who need authoritative,
interesting information about the UN. Helpful material for teachers.
The
UN
Cartographic Section has about 100 general maps available in PDF
format,
some are useful for UN operations. Includes thematic maps and maps on
current trouble spots. There is also a UN Ocean Atlas.
The United Nations Scholars Workstation, developed by the Yale University Library and the Social Science Statistical Laboratory is a collection of texts, finding aids, data sets, maps, and pointers to useful information. More information is available on their website.
The Dag Hammarskjold Library (DHL) provides a rich variety of information services and resources. Many of these are available from the Library website. UN InfoQuest or UNIQUE is an especially important resource found here. There are also reference guides, and detailed UN research guides and a UN System pathfinder. The The UN System Pathfinder selects UN publications and arranges them by topic. Includes links to items published on the WWW (but many items are not).
The GA includes all UN members. It is the major deliberative body of
the U.N. There is one session for each year with the session beginning
in September and ending in December.
Most concerns and issues are given to a major committee:
Other Sessional Committees
A Select List of Related Bodies
GA resolutions and decisions cumulate for each
session and are issued as the final supplement to the Official Records of
the
General Assembly.
The U.N. has published an excellent
research guide on how to find voting information for the GA.
Indexes to Proceedings are available for the GA, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, and the Trusteeship Council. They contain a comprehensive subject index for all documents issued and an index to speeches delivered. Voting charts are also available.
Major speeches before the GA may often be found on the websites of
the
various country permanent missions to the UN. Check this site for a list of missions
and
links. Another possibility is via the UN Document
Index which may be searched by personal name, country name, or
subject. PV or SR codes in the document number indicate speeches. The
Index
to the
Proceedings of the General Assembly may be used to locate
speeches
given before 1985 by looking in the "Index to Speeches."
Several academic research libraries are
United Nations Depository
Libraries and hold relatively comprehensive collections of the items
mentioned. If your library is not a depository and there is demand for
UN
material, it is helpful to identify and visit a nearby UN Depository
Library
and become familiar with their collection and lending policies.
The UN Library
United Nations Documentation: Research Guide provides an easily
understood introduction to publication types and how to work with them.
An essential source.
Typically, these are draft documents produced day by day as the UN does its work. Mimeograph documents are now called masthead documents. Important ones are reprinted in a variety of other sources including the Yearbook and the Annual Review. Have document symbols in upper right corner or verso of title page. A complete list of all the alphanumeric elements in a document number appear in the front of each issue of UNDOC: Current Index which is arranged in document number order.
Elements Leading
Elements - Leading - Subsidiary Organs (examples)
Elements - Subsidiary
Elements Document type
Elements - Text type
Distribution category
Chronological designation
Examples
For more particulars, see United Nations Document Series Symbols (Z 6482 .U44). Many documents are produced and most are temporary and go OP quickly.
Access to recent documents via UN Documents Press releases. Usually, the press release will contain a cite.
These are the permanent, final record of business transacted similar to the House and Senate Journals. Official records include meeting or plenary records, supplements which contain resolutions and decisions and reports of major UN bodies, and annexes which are reprints of related documents. They have Official Record designation. See Directory of United Nations Documentary and Archival Sources (JX 1977.8 .D6H34 1991).
Resolutions are formal expressions of the sense of the body. The preamble contains the rationale for the action to be taken. The rest of the resolution indicates what action is to be taken. Decisions are formal actions dealing with housekeeping details of running an international organization.
The major UN bodies are:
Resolutions and decisions of subsidiary
bodies will be included as
supplements to the official records of the parent. For example,
subsidiary
bodies of the Economic and Social Council are issued as supplements to
the
official records of the Council.
The UT Libraries provides access to Access
UN [1998-] which provides access to many UN documents and
publications.
Speeches are often requested,
especially by model UNers, because
they help
to determine the policy of a country on an issue. See the UN
Document
Index and UNDOC:Current Index. For earlier periods, see the
Index
to Proceedings of the General Assembly in the speech
section
under the selected country. PV in citation indicates a speech and SR in
the
citation indicates a speech summary. The Official Records of the UN
General Assembly and the Official Records of the Security
Council are the final official versions of the speeches.
Press releases are found at the UN
News Centre and are often useful for explaining recent action.
Annual Review of U.N. Affairs (began in 1949) includes texts of major documents of the year and a chronology and factbook. UN. Dag Hammarskjold Library. Check List of United Nations Documents covers the period from 1946-1949.
Directory of United Nations Databases and Information Services (1978-) is a subject guide to the various information creation, storage, and dissemination activities.
UN. Index to Proceedings of the General Assembly (1950/51-)
UN. Index to Proceedings of the
Security Council (1952-).
[Also see Resolutions and Decisions of the Security Council
issued by
Oceana
Publications (1946-), includes voting records.]
Note that the UN issues similar indexes for the Economic and Social
Council
(1952-) and the Trusteeship Council (1952_ .
Index to United Nations Documents and Publications began in 1966, monthly, and is issued by Readex Microprint Corporation. This CD-ROM product includes UN official records, documents, mimeographed items, some resolutions, selected sales publications and some periodical articles. There is a corresponding fiche collection = United Nations Documents which began in 1988 and includes some items not sent to UN depository libraries such as R and L items.
UN. Proceedings of the Economic and Social Council (1952-)
Resolutions Adopted by the General Assembly (issued by Oceana Publications, 1946-) also includes voting records.
United Nations. General Assembly. Resolutions Adopted by the General Assembly :1946-1985 and United Nations. Security Council Resolutions and Decisions of the Security Council:1946-1975 contain voting records for each resolution and indexes to the proceedings.
UNBIS Plus is a CD-ROM database
from Chadwyck-Healey
providing
bibliographic access to the UN and non-UN publications acquired by the
DH
Library and the Library of the UN Geneva Office. Includes access to the
full
text of UN resolutions, voting records, and citations to speeches.
Besides
UNDOC and its successor, this title includes indexes to the
proceedings.
Updated quarterly.
UBISnet is the UN Library's web catalog. It includes direct links to
documents on ODS.
UNDEX: United Nations Document Index covers the period from 1974-1978. Issued in three series with A = subject index, B = country index, and C = list of documents.
UNDOC: Current Index: United Nations Document Index covers the period from 1979 to 1996. The official comprehensive index for NY and Geneva. Content and arrangement vary. There are broad subject, personal/corporate name, and title indexes for UN organs and subsidiary bodies. Monthly paper issues to annual cumulations on fiche. It was succeeded by the United Nations Documents Index which began in 1998. The United Nations Documents Checklist covers the period between the two.
UN-I-QUE or United Nations Info Quest is an Internet data base which provides quick access to document symbols/sales numbers of UN material from 1946. There is an emphasis on documents and publications of a recurrent nature.
UN. Dag Hammarskjold Library. United
Nations Document Index
is the
current official index and covers the period from 1998. The Digital
version is the United Nations
Documents and the Official Document System [ODS] which is a
fee-based database covering a wide range of UN documents from 1993. ODS
excludes press releases, sales publications, treaty series volumes and
some information brochures.
United Nations Press Releases Database, from 1995, is available on the web and often provide valuable information on action taken on a particular issue. Particulars provided here often lead to the primary source.
Article 102 of the UN Charter requires that all international agreements entered into by any member be registered with the Secretariat and published. There is a substantial time lag.
UN. Treaty Series. Recueil des traites (UNTS) (1946/47-). Every treaty and international agreement entered into by any UN member after October, 1945. The original text is translated into English and French. General indexes are available but are not current. Selected volumes available via UN web site.
See League of Nations Treaty Series for 1920-1933
UN. Treaty Series. Cumulative Index (1956-)
UN. Secretariat. Statement of Treaties and International Agreements Registered or Filed and Recorded with the Secretariat is a monthly serial with a subject index that cumulates into an annual. This is useful for information on recent treaties.
Note that important international agreements are often discussed in the legal literature. Look at Current Law Index and Index of Legal Periodicals. These articles normally include many citations to relevant items.
The Security Council has fifteen members and is responsible for
maintaining international peace and security. The permanent members
[some controversy here and changes afoot] are China, France, Russia,
U.K., and the U.S. The non-permanent members are elected for two year
terms by the General Assembly. Sessions are called as needed.
Security Council Resolutions from 1946 to date are available on the WWW in PDF files.
The Council is responsible for U.N. economic and social activity.
The 54 members serve three year terms with 18 rotating off and on each
year. There are two sessions per year with one in New York and one in
Geneva. There are five regional economic commissions and each has its
own publications program:
The Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues reports to the Council with a charge to
discuss indigenous
issues related to economic and social development, culture, the
environment, education, health and human rights.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Least
Developed Countries Report contains useful information on LDCs,
including statistical tables and demographic data.
Fifty
three states belong to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
which meets each year in March or
April for six weeks in Geneva. Over 3,000 delegates from member and
observer States and from non-governmental organizations participate.
The Commission typically "adopts about a hundred resolutions, decisions
and Chairperson's statements on matters of relevance to individuals in
all regions and circumstances. It is assisted in this work by the Sub-Commission on the
Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, a number of working
groups and a network of individual experts, representatives and
rapporteurs mandated to report to it on specific issues."
The
Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) was established as a functional
commission of the Economic and Social Council on June 1946 to prepare
recommendations and reports to the Council on promoting women's rights
in political, economic, civil, social and educational fields. The
Commission also makes recommendations to the Council on urgent problems
requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights. The
object of the Commission is to promote implementation of the principle
that men and women shall have equal rights.
This agency was formerly the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources for Development which was established in July 1998with the
merger of the Committee on Natural Resources, the Committee on
New and Renewable Sources of Energy, and the Committee on Energy for
Development. The CSD is a high level forum on sustainable
Development.
Oversees the economic, political, educational and social development
of
trusteeship territories. Suspended operation in 1994 because all trust
territories had self-government.
Specialized agencies report annually to the Economic and
Social Council. The Max
Planck Society provides a comprehensive list.
Central bank cooperation and is a focus for international banking issues. "The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international organization which fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks."
9.21 Commodity
Review and
Outlook
(HD 9000.1 .F57)
This yearbook summarizes key developments in the global economy,
commodity prices and export earnings as well as other developments
affecting
international trade in agriculture.
9.22 FAO Yearbook. Production
(HD 1421 .P7)
The FAO
statistical database provides access to production and other
statistics.
9.23 FAO Yearbook. Trade
(HD 1421 .T7)
See the FAO statistical database.
9.24 State
of Food and
Agriculture
(S 401 .U6A317)
9.25 World Food Survey describes and evaluates the impact of food supply on population, with a focus on nutrition.
9.26 Yearbook of Fishery Statistics (SH1 .Y4)
"The IAEA is the world's center of cooperation in the nuclear field.
It
was set up as the world's "Atoms for Peace" organization in 1957 within
the United Nations family. The Agency works with its Member States and
multiple partners worldwide to promote safe, secure and peaceful
nuclear technologies.
9.31 The IAEA Statistical
Center provides much useful data.
9.32 The IAEA Yearbook (HD
9698.5 .I34). The
IAEA Annual Report is available on the web.
IBRD is now the World Bank. The World Bank Group’s mission is to fight poverty and improve the living standards of people in the developing world. It is a development Bank which provides loans, policy advice, technical assistance and knowledge sharing services to low and middle income countries to reduce poverty. The Bank promotes growth to create jobs and to empower poor people to take advantage of these opportunities. The World Bank Umbrella includes:
9.41 World
Debt Tables
provide an annual report on
external
public and private debt flows of developing countries with some
projections.
9.42 The World
Bank Data and Statistics Center is an excellent source on a wide
range of topics.
IFAD was established in 1977 as a
result of the 1974 World Food
Conference. There are 162 member states. It finances agricultural
development
projects primarily for food production in developing countries,
especially in
rural areas, to alleviate nutritional problems and improve health among
the
poor. Focus is on small farmers, rural landless, nomadic pastoralists,
artisanal fisher folk, indigenous people, and rural poor women in all
groups.
Social issues affecting the poor, including organizing and bargaining
collectively are important. So far, IFAD has financed 603 projects in
115
countries and independent territories.
IFAD publications
found here.
ILO, promoting decent work for all, issues many publications. The ILO Publications website is useful. ILO's major databases are available here. The LABORSTA website also provides access to many useful statistics. Sample publications include
"The purposes of the Organization, are 'to provide machinery for cooperation among Governments in the field of governmental regulation and practices relating to technical matters of all kinds affecting shipping engaged in international trade; to encourage and facilitate the general adoption of the highest practicable standards in matters concerning maritime safety, efficiency of navigation and prevention and control of marine pollution from ships'.
IMO's first
task was to adopt a new version of the International Convention for the
Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), the most important of all treaties
dealing with maritime safety. This was achieved in 1960 and IMO then
turned its attention to such matters as the facilitation of
international maritime traffic, load lines and the carriage of
dangerous goods, while the system of measuring the tonnage of ships was
revised."
The publications are
listed here.
IMF ensures international economic stability through cooperation and support in buying and selling currencies so that payments in foreign money can take place between countries smoothly and quickly.
Much useful
statistical
data is available via PDF files, including a considerable amount of
historical data (found on the "Publications page"). The IMF has created
the
General
Data Dissemination System, a meta data system to guide
countries in
providing comprehensive, reliable, and timely economic data. The IMF Finances pages
contain much useful data. The IMF Country
Reports are especially valuable and should interest a wide audience.
9.91 IMF Survey is a periodical on current IMF activity, including major speeches. Annual index.
9.92 IMF Staff Country Reports provide detailed background information on economic developments in many countries, including some less visible ones.
9.93 International Financial
Statistics Yearbook
9.94 International Financial Statistics
9.95 Balance of Payment Statistics (HG 3882 .B34)
9.96 Direction of Trade Statistics (HF 1 .D52)
9.97 Government Finance Statistics Yearbook (HJ 101 .G67). Contains detailed data on 115 countries from 1979 forward with selected forecasts.
9.98 World Economic Outlook (HC 10 .W7979)
"The three Sectors of the Union — Radiocommunication (ITU-R),
Telecommunication Standardization (ITU-T), and Telecommunication
Development (ITU-D) — work today to build and shape tomorrow’s networks
and services. Their activities cover all aspects of telecommunication,
from setting standards that facilitate seamless interworking of
equipment and systems on a global basis to adopting operational
procedures for the vast and growing array of wireless services and
designing programmes to improve telecommunication infrastructure in the
developing world." The Free Statistics pages
contain a reasonable amount of useful information.
Today, UNESCO
functions as a laboratory of ideas and a standard-setter to forge
universal agreements on emerging ethical issues. The Organization also
serves as a clearinghouse – for the dissemination and sharing
of information and knowledge – while helping Member States to build their human and
institutional capacities in diverse fields. In short, UNESCO promotes international co-operation among its
190 Member States and six Associate Members in the fields of
education, science, culture and communication. The UNESCO
World Heritage Center hopes to define and conserve the world's
heritage. Lists sites of outstanding value.
11.1 The UNESCO Thesaurus includes about 7,000 items in English, French, and Spanish.
11.2 The UNESCO website contains an interesting variety of items such as Windows to Culture for policy making in the field of culture. UNESCO Archives Portal includes links to archives around the world.
11.3 The hard copy UNESCO
Statistical Yearbook is no
more, but
much of the statistical information should be available on their
website. USAID
provides some access for UNESCO statistical data on education. The Index Translationum,
bibliographic information on books published and translated is
available since 1979.
11.4 The UN Observatory on the Information Society collects information on privacy and confidentiality, content regulation, multilingualism, and public access.
11.5 UNESBIB
is the UNESCO
bibliographic database. The website links to the UNESCO documents and
publications pages.
11.6 The UNESCO
Institute for Statistics website includes much useful information.
The purpose of UNIDO is fighting Poverty and Marginalization through Sustainable Industrial Development. Statistical databases are found here.
The fee-based Elsevier publication,The International Development Abstracts, contains abstracts of major studies and reports relevant to this agency.
With 190 member
countries, the UPU is the primary forum for cooperation
between postal services and helps to ensure a truly universal network
of up-to-date products and services. In this way, the organization
fulfills an advisory, mediating and liaison role, and renders technical
assistance where needed. It sets the rules for international mail
exchanges and makes recommendations to stimulate growth in mail volumes
and to improve the quality of service for customers.
Postal
statistics may be found here.
The World Bank Group’s mission is to fight poverty and improve the living standards of people in the developing world. It is a development Bank which provides loans, policy advice, technical assistance and knowledge sharing services to low and middle income countries to reduce poverty. The Bank promotes growth to create jobs and to empower poor people to take advantage of these opportunities.
Note treatment above under IBRD. The World Bank Research Website is easily used and contains much useful information on developing countries. The Global Development Gateway focuses on a variety of issues related to economic development, including some country gateways.
The World Bank Index of Publications is available in a searchable version on the web.
Several important news letters are available for email subscription.
World Development Indicators [Yr]
The World Bank Atlas
Global Development Finance (HJ 8899 .W672)
The World Health Organization is the United Nations specialized agency for health. It was established on 7 April 1948. WHO's objective, as set out in its Constitution, is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health is defined in WHO's Constitution as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
WHO Mediacentre is the WHO news site.The World Health Organization
Information System (WHOSIS) provides a variety of useful data
including core health indicators and statistics by region or country or
topic.
Publications
of the World
Health Organization and Information Products
Catalogue [year].
The World Health Report [year] is an annual report on world-wide health. Includes data on life expectancy, fertility, death, disease incidence by type, disability, health spending, physicians and nurses. Some data by sex.
The Bulletin of the World Health Organization: the International Journal of Public Health includes research findings and public health policy discussions.
WHODOC: Current Bibliography of WHO Documentation is a bimonthly list of recent documents and publications. Annual cumulation = WHOLIS (World Health Organization Library Information System).
WHO issues various volumes on the International Classifications for diseases, functioning, disability, and health, and non proprietary names for pharmaceutical substances.
WHOSIS is the WHO statistical information system website. It provides access to the World Health Report as well data on recent cases of infectious disease by country.
"The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is an international organization dedicated to promoting the use and protection of works of the human spirit. These works -- intellectual property -- are expanding the bounds of science and technology and enriching the world of the arts. Through its work, WIPO plays an important role in enhancing the quality and enjoyment of life, as well as creating real wealth for nations."
There are 179 member countries.
Twenty-three treaties are
administered
with 16 on industrial property and 6 on copyright plus the convention
establishing WIPO. Its purpose is to "ensure that the rights of
creators and
owners of intellectual property are protected worldwide and that
inventors
and authors are, thus, recognized and rewarded for their ingenuity.
This
international protection acts as a spur to human creativity, pushing
forward
the boundaries of science and technology and enriching the world of
literature and the arts." In a sense, WIPO began with the 1883 Paris
Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. In 1886, the
Berne
Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works came into
being
both. Both conventions had small bureaus for administration. In 1893,
they
were combined and formed the United International Bureaux for the
Protection
of Intellectual Property or BIRPI, based in Berne (now in Geneva). In
1974,
WIPO became a UN specialized agency.
The News & Information
pages provide access to documents, including treaties, and statistics.
The WMO is the UN system’s authoritative voice on the state and behavior of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the oceans, the climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources.
The publications catalog lists some free items. The Library provides good links to other sites with meteorological information.The World Trade Organization (WTO), formerly GATT, is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to help producers of goods and services, exporters, and importers conduct their business.
This is a good site for international trade statistics. The Documents Gateway provides access to many important documents.The chief administrative office for the UN and the head of the UN is
the
Secretary General. The United Nations Association of the United
States provides a good introduction/overview
for the Secretariat.
The Secretariat is responsible for the day-to-day work of the Organization. It services the other principal organs of the United Nations and administers the programmes and policies laid down by them. At its head is the Secretary-General, who is appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a five- year, renewable term.
"The duties carried out by the Secretariat are as varied as the problems dealt with by the United Nations. These range from administering peacekeeping operations to mediating international disputes, from surveying economic and social trends and problems to preparing studies on human rights and sustainable development. Secretariat staff also inform the world's communications media about the work of the United Nations; organize international conferences on issues of worldwide concern; and interpret speeches and translate documents into the Organization's official languages.
The Secretariat has a staff of about 8,900 under the regular budget drawn from some 170 countries. As international civil servants, staff members and the Secretary-General answer to the United Nations alone for their activities, and take an oath not to seek or receive instructions from any Government or outside authority. Under the Charter, each Member State undertakes to respect the exclusively international character of the responsibilities of the Secretary-General and the staff and to refrain from seeking to influence them improperly in the discharge of their duties."
The United Nations, while headquartered in New York, maintains a significant presence in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Beirut, Geneva, Nairobi, Santiago and Vienna, and has offices all over the world.
The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It is located at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). It began work in 1946, when it replaced the Permanent Court of International Justice which had functioned in the Peace Palace since 1922. It operates under a Statute largely similar to that of its predecessor, which is an integral part of the Charter of the United Nations.
The Court has a dual role: to settle in accordance with international law the legal disputes submitted to it by States, and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized international organs and agencies.
The Court is composed of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms of office by the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council sitting independently of each other. It may not include more than one judge of any nationality. Elections are held every three years for one-third of the seats, and retiring judges may be re-elected. The Members of the Court do not represent their governments, but are independent magistrates.Many inter-governmental Organizations
are related to the UN by agreement. These are not formally part of the
United Nations. Still, they often have considerable impact on
particular
issues. The Nordic
Council is an example.
8.1 United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF) focuses on problems related to children, especially in
developing countries. Current concerns include immunization, the
education of girls, hiv/aids prevention/treatment, and child
protection.
8.2 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)."UNDP is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with them on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners."
8.3 United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The mission is "to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations." UNEP. Net is a world-wide environmental information site.
Some material from these programmes is indexed in UNBIS Plus [information about this and other UN indexes], UNDOC, and the United Nations Documents and Publications Index.
Items directed toward an external audience. See United Nations Publications Catalogue (Z 6485 .U522). Sales numbers usually appear on the back of the title page. _ Sometimes these appear in citations. The structure is usually "language. year.subject.publication number." For example, E.83.IX.5 = English language, issued in 1983 on disarmament and atomic energy, number 5. The subject categories are in Roman numbers, for example
The statistical yearbooks heavily used
by reference librarians are
sales
publications. Most UN and specialized agency statistics come
from
official sources. Not all official statistics are reliable and valid.
The UN
provides an list of
national statistical publications and web sites that may be useful for
providing more current or more detailed statistical information. As
is
true of U.S. statistical publications, there is a trend to discontinue
hard
copy items in favor of web publishing. Some of these are free, but
others require subscription.
13.1
African Statistical Yearbook(HA
4675 .A38) is a fee-based hard copy publication
13.2 IMF
Balance
of Payments Yearbook is the hard copy edition of the IMF
Balance of Payments Statistics Database [BOPS]. (STX HF 1014.I5)
13.3 Commodity Trade
Database
[Comtrade] is available via subscription with some free use.
Considerable
information on commodities from nearly all countries, with some
emphasis on imports and exports.
13.4 Demographic Yearbook (Ref HA 17 .D45)
13.5 Direction of Trade Statistics
Yearbook [DOTS] (REF HF 1 .D52)
13.6 Energy Statistics Yearbook (REF HD 9502 .A1E58)
13.7 FAO Production Yearbook (REF HD
1421 .P7) covers production
of
food, cereals, livestock, crops, machinery, and land use. No price
information.
13.8 FAO Trade Yearbook
(REF HD 1421 .T7) covers the
imports
and exports of food commodities.
13.9 Government Finance Statistics
Yearbook (STX HJ 101 .G67)
13.10 International Trade
Statistics Yearbook (REF HF 495
.U42)
issued by the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development is now available
in
CD-ROM format which includes more data and allows for data manipulation.
13.11 Industrial Statistics Yearbook (Ref HA 40 .I6U55)
13.12 International Financial Statistics
Yearbook (REF HJ 109 .I52)
13.13 International Trade Statistics Yearbook (Ref HF 91 .U473)
13.14 National Accounts Statistics
(REF HC 79 .I5U533)
13.15 United Nations Statistical Yearbook (Ref HA 12.5 .U63)
13.16 Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific (HA 1665 .U6)
13.17 Statistical Yearbook for Latin American and the Caribbean (HA 755 .A68)
13.18 UNCTAD Commodity Yearbook (HF 1040 .Y42)
13.19 United Nations Juridical Yearbook (JX 1977 .A1U54)
13.20 United Nations Disarmament Yearbook (JX 1974 .U546)
13.20 World Health Statistics Annual (REF RA 651.A485)
13.21 World Statistics in Brief: UN
Statistics Pocketbook
13.22 World Tables [World Bank] (REF HC 59 .W669)
13.23 Yearbook of Labour Statistics , [yr] (REF HD 4826 .I63)
13.24 Yearbook of the United Nations (JX 1977 .A3744)
13.25 UN Monthly Bulletin of Statistics
Index to International Statistics (IIS) (Z 7551 .A3I53)
World Factbook issued by the CIA, contains good, basic statistical information.
For statistics by region, the several Europa yearbooks are probably the best 1st source [See Europa World Yearbook (JN1 .E85)
For historical statistics, International Historical Statistics, Europe, 1750-1988 (HA 1107 .M5 1992) is useful. There is a companion volume for the rest of the world.
The U.S. Census Bureau International Programs Center database contains much useful demographic information about foreign countries.
The Council of Europe is the continent's oldest political
organization, founded in 1949. Since 1989, its main job has become:
• acting as a political anchor and human rights watchdog for Europe's
post-communist
democracies,
• assisting the countries of central and eastern Europe in carrying out
and consolidating political, legal and constitutional reform in
parallel with
economic reform,
• providing know-how in areas such as human rights, local democracy,
education,
culture and the environment.
Guide to Researching the Council of Europe is a standard resource.
Europa World Yearbook provides an overview of European international organization activity.
The European Union: A Guide for Americans available here provides a useful introduction.
Eurofocus is a weekly official newsletter from the European Commission aimed at the general reader in pdf format.
The Union has a website devoted to accessing European Union Information. This is a detailed, comprehensive site and probably the best place to begin when looking for particular information.
Columbia University Libraries also have a helpful guide to Western European Information resources.
Europa:
the EU at a Glance is an informative introduction in 12 lessons.
Covers history, purpose, and accomplishment as well as key
figures, maps, glossary, and text of relevant treaties.
Guide to the Official Publications of the EC by John Jeffries.
Sources of Information on the European Communities by Doris Palmer.
Documentation of the European Communities by Ian Thompson.
The Union has four primary institutions: Commission, Council, Parliament, and Court. The Commission is the executive branch. The Council makes major policy decisions. The Parliament has members, proportionally, from the member countries. Typically, the Council and the Commission are the dominant bodies. The Court is powerful because it has the authority to overturn country law or rule that conflicts with a Union law or rule.
The European Union has a depository library system and some research libraries are depositories. EU documents are normally issued in these classes
Documents of the European Union
Publications
of the European Union
Statistics
of the European Union
EUROSTAT is the EU statistical agency. Statistics are gathered on a wide variety of topics. Index to International Statistics provides access to many of these statistical publications.
INTERPOL is the second largest international organization [UN is
first]. Focus is on public safety and terrorism via international
police cooperation. Interpol
exists to help create a safer world. Its aim is to provide a unique
range of essential services for the law enforcement community to
optimize the international effort to combat crime. Fact
sheets.
NATO Review is their quarterly periodical.
The OECD Observer is a good current awareness source.
series is excellent and focuses on noteworthy issues.
An excellent introduction and overview is found at OECD Online.
The thirty odd OECD members represent highly developed market economies
[account for most of the world's GNP] and the focus of the organization
is on economic and social policy. A Secretariat is responsible for
managing the organization.
Their Washington Center Home page provides much useful information:
Note that most OECD publications are global in scope, though non-Member countries have less detailed information. Since the U.S. is a member, these are good sources of U.S, data in a comparative context. Sample publications include
This is world's oldest regional
organization, established in 1948, but the first International
Conference of American States met in 1890 and established the
International Union of American Republics. This became the Pan American
Union which became the OAS.
Today, the focus is on strengthening human rights, promoting greater
participation in government [strengthening democracy], combating
illegal drugs, facilitating free trade and sustainable development,
and increasing education. The OAS provides
useful
current statistics on Latin American and Caribbean countries. Relevant
documents are available via the OAS website. Back issues of their Americas periodical are
available on the web.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) was established in 1958 to promote economic and social development. The website provides access to recent working papers, and country reports with statistical tables and graphs.
Economic and Social Progress in Latin America is published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
IDB America
is their monthly
newsletter.
