1966-present (Index to United Nations Documents and Publications database)

• Index title: Index to United Nations documents and publications [computer file]
• Location: UW Law Library. Must be accessed through a terminal with a UW Law Library connection.
• Author/Publisher: New Canann, CT: Newsbank/Readex.
• Format: Electronic Resource. (Need license for access; i.e., UW Law School pays for access.)
• Dates covered: 1966-present.
• Full bibliographic citations: for sales publications, selected periodical articles, and and documents from the General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, Secretariat, and International Court of Justice.
• Searching: Can search document citations and full-text records by using keywords and Boolean operators. Search fields include:
  

  Title Author UN Document Number UN Sales Number

  Session Document Type Subjects

  Document Date Country All Fields

• For assistance: See the reference librarians at the Law Library.

How they work

1) Indexes

What they do: Index the checklist, i.e. tell you where to go in the checklist to find out more about each document or publication. At most, the indexes give you a document symbol, title, issuing agency, and year it was issued. At a minimum, indexes tell you where in the checklist to find full bibliographic information. In either case, because documents are hard to locate, it's advisable to look at the full bibliographic entry in the checklist before trying to search for the document. You may find that the document you're looking for is only 2 pages long, or had limited distribution, or is not worth hunting down for some other reason. How they're organized: All UN indexes have subject, title, and some kind of author indexing. Sometimes, they're combined into one index; often, there are separate indexes for subject, title, and corporate author/personal name.

2) Checklists of documents (Called "Checklists" or "Documents and Publications")

What they do: Give full bibliographic information for each publication. Entries usually include: Document symbol/Sales publication number Full title Author or issuing body Kind of publication/document Publication date Number of pages If it's included in the official records, where in the official records to find it How they're organized: Documents in checklists are listed either by document symbol or by arbitrarily-assigned identifying numbers.

Return to top of page

Return to top of section

Examples of index & checklist entries

Subject entry from UNDI: Cumulative Index - Part 1, Volume 14 -. 1963, p. 60

CUBAN SITUATION Documents S/5259 Cuba. Letter, 11 Mar, alleging continued aggressive acts by United States

Checklist entry from UNDI: Cumulative Checklist, Volume 14 - 1963, p. 112

S/5259. Letter dated 11 Mar 1963 from the deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba addressed to the President of the Security Council. 13 Mar 1963. 16 p. Concerns Cuban situation.

From UNDOC: Current Index, United Nations Document Index, 1995-96. Each entry refers to the same document.

Subject entry from UNDOC, 1995-96, "Subject Index," fiche 10, p. 6194

EAST TIMOR-RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ----Letter dated 94/07/18. A/49/267 (000643)

Title entry from UNDOC, 1995-96, "Title Index," fiche 3, p. 4571

Letter dated 94/07/18 from the Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General. (000643) A/49/267

Name entry from UNDOC, 1995-96, "Name Index," fiche 2, p. 2764

Germany ----Letter dated 94/07/18. A/49/267 (000643)

Checklist entry from UNDOC, 1995-96, "Documents and Publications," fiche 2, p. 84

A/49/267 (000643) S/1994/853 Question of East Timor. - Letter dated 94/07/18 from the Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General. - (New YorkD : UN, 20 July 1994.) 2 p. "Annex: Statement on East Timor, issued by the European Union on 18 July 1994" : p. 2. Language versions: A, C, E, F, R, S. Photo-offset. Doc. No.: N9429601.

1963-1973 (UNDI)

• Index title: United Nations Document Index (UNDI).
• Location: Memorial Library Government Documents Collection, Stack Level 2M South, Aisle 0
• Author/Publisher: United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold Library; New York: United Nations, v.1-24, 1950-1973.
• Format: Print
• Frequency: Issued annually.
• Full bibliographic entries: In "Checklist of Documents." Checklist arranged by issuing body and document symbol. Generally, documents of the General Assembly come first, then the Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, Secretariat, and then specialized agencies.
• Indexing: Each issue has a cumulative author and subject index for that year. Index entry gives document symbol.

1974 (UNDEX)

• Index title: UNDEX: United Nations Document Index.
• Location: Memorial Library Government Documents Collection, Stack Level 2M South, Aisle 0
• Author/Publisher: United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold Library; New York: United Nations. Issued in separate series:
  • Series A, Subject Index. v. 5-9 (1974-1978).
  • Series B, Country Index. v. 5-9 (1974-1978)
  • UNDEX Series "C" Cumulative Edition, 1974-1977. White Plains, NY, UNIFO Publishers, 1980. v.1-4 (1974-1977).
• Format: Print
• Frequency: Indexes (Series A & Series B) issued 10 times per year. Checklist (Series C) issued once.
• Full bibliographic entries: In UNDEX Series "C" Cumulative Edition, 1974-1977, vol. 1-3. Arranged by issuing body and document symbol (for exact order, see table of contents in each volume). Checklist takes up three volumes:
  • Volume I: General Assembly
  • Volume II: Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC), including Regional Economic Commissions; Secretariat
  • Volume III: Security Council; Trusteeship Council; International Court of Justice; Miscellaneous (including a list of UN periodicals, 1974-1977)
• Indexing: Series A, Subject Index. Issued 10 times during the year. Each entry includes title, issuing body, document symbol. Series B, Country Index. Issued 10 times during the year. Each entry contains name of country, type of action, subject covered, and document symbol or sales number.

1975-1977 (UNDEX)

• Index title: UNDEX: United Nations Document Index.
• Location: Memorial Library Government Documents Collection, Stack Level 2M South, Aisle 0
• Author/Publisher: United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold Library; New York: United Nations. Issued in separate series:
  • Series A, Subject Index. v. 5-9 (1974-1978).
  • Series B, Country Index. v. 5-9 (1974-1978)
  • UNDEX Series "C" Cumulative Edition, 1974-1977. White Plains, NY, UNIFO Publishers, 1980. v.1-4 (1974-1977).
• Format: Print
• Frequency: Indexes (Series A & Series B) issued annually. Checklist (Series C) issued once.
• Full bibliographic entries: In UNDEX Series "C" Cumulative Edition, 1974-1977, vol. 1-3. Arranged by issuing body and document symbol (for exact order, see table of contents in each volume). Checklist takes up three volumes:
  • Volume I: General Assembly
  • Volume II: Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC), including Regional Economic Commissions; Secretariat
  • Volume III: Security Council; Trusteeship Council; International Court of Justice; Miscellaneous (including a list of UN periodicals, 1974-1977)
• Indexing: Series A, Subject Index. Issued annually; 1975-1978 issues bound in one volume. Each entry includes title, issuing body, document symbol. Series B, Country Index. Issued annually; 1975-1978 issues bound in one volume. Each entry contains name of country, type of action, subject covered, and document symbol or sales number.

1978 (UNDEX)

• Index title: UNDEX: United Nations Document Index.
• Location: Memorial Library Government Documents Collection, Stack Level 2M South, Aisle 0
• Author/Publisher: United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold Library; New York: United Nations. Issued in separate series:
  • Series A, Subject Index. v. 5-9 (1974-1978).
  • Series B, Country Index. v. 5-9 (1974-1978)
  • UNDEX Series "C" Cumulative Edition, 1978. Pleasantville, NY, UNIFO Publishers, 1980. v.4
• Format: Print
• Frequency: Indexes (Series A & Series B) issued annually. Checklist (Series C, vol. 4) issued once.
• Full bibliographic entries: In UNDEX Series "C" Cumulative Edition, vol. 4. Arranged by issuing body and document symbol (for exact order, see table of contents).
• Indexing: Series A, Subject Index. Bound with Series A, 1975-1977 issues. 8 issues bound in one volume. Each entry includes title, issuing body, document symbol. Series B, Country Index. Bound with Series B, 1975-1977 issues. Each entry contains name of country, type of action, subject covered and document symbol or sales number.

1979-1982 (UNDOC)

• Index title: UNDOC: Current Index, United Nations Document Index
• Location: Memorial Library Government Documents Collection, Stack Level 2M South, Aisle 0
• Author/Publisher: Dag Hammarskjold Library; New York: United Nations, 1979-1982.
• Format: Print
• Frequency: Annual cumulation for each year.
• Full bibliographic entries: In "Checklist of Documents" section, arranged by document symbol.
• Indexing: Separate indexes by subject, name (including individual & corporate authors and countries issuing documents), and title.

1983 (UNDOC)

• Index title: UNDOC: Current Index, United Nations Document Index
• Location: Memorial Library Government Documents Collection, Stack Level 2M South, Aisle 0
• Author/Publisher: Dag Hammarskjold Library; New York: United Nations, 1985.
• Format: Print
• Frequency: Annual cumulation.
• Full bibliographic entries: In "Documents and Publications" section, UNDOC 1983, Vol. 1, Pts. 1 & 2. Each entry assigned an identifying number. Arranged by entry number (basically document symbol order).
• Indexing: Subject index in UNDOC 1983 Vol. 2, Pts. 1-4 (pts 2 & 4 currently missing). Personal/corporate name index (including countries issuing documents) in UNDOC 1983, Vol. 3. Title index in UNDOC 1983, Vol. 4. Index entries include entry number and document symbol.

1984-1996 (UNDOC)

• Index title: UNDOC: Current Index, United Nations Document Index
• Location: Memorial Library Reference Microform Collection, Room 262, Micro Fiche 4743
• Author/Publisher: Dag Hammarskjold Library; New York: United Nations, 1984-1996.
• Format: Microfiche
• Frequency: Annual cumulations.
• Full bibliographic entries: In "Documents and Publications" section. Each entry assigned an identifying number. Arranged by entry number (but basically in document symbol order).
• Indexing: Separate indexes by subject, name (including individual & corporate authors and countries issuing documents), and title. Index entries include entry number and document symbol; easiest to look up publications by entry number.