PI/988

NEW DATABASE POSTED ON DAG HAMMARSKJ+LD LIBRARY HOME PAGE ON INTERNET

20 January 1997


Press Release
PI/988


NEW DATABASE POSTED ON DAG HAMMARSKJÖLD LIBRARY HOME PAGE ON INTERNET

19970120 A new database for identifying major United Nations documents, UN Info Quest (UN-I-QUE), is now available on the Dag Hammarskjöld Library home page on the Internet (http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/unique). UN-I-QUE was created by the Library's United Nations/Specialized Agencies Reference Desk to quickly respond to frequently asked questions.

UN-I-QUE is an electronic research tool that serves as a guide to the symbols/sales numbers of tens of thousands of selected documents and publications from 1946 to the present. Records will be updated and new entries added regularly; additional research files will be incorporated into the database.

Among the symbols which can be easily traced through UN-I-QUE are those of resolutions granting countries membership in the United Nations as well as those designating international years and decades; speeches in the annual general debate of the General Assembly; sessional reports of major committees/ commissions and their terms of reference; reports prepared by Special Rapporteurs in the fields of human rights and international law; periodic reports submitted by countries in compliance with human rights instruments; and reports of major United Nations conferences. A simple search -- for example, for reports of the Commission on Human Rights -- will result in a complete listing of symbols for all its sessional reports from 1947 to the present.

The database is geared towards the United Nations community and librarians in United Nations depository libraries but its usefulness will extend to researchers worldwide who would like to find shortcuts to identifying key documentation.

To familiarize delegates and staff of permanent missions and the Secretariat with the features of the database, training will be scheduled on an ongoing basis. To register for training, contact the Dag Hammarskjöld Library -- tel. (212) 963-7412, e-mail (dhlunsa@un.org), or fax (212) 963- 1779.

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For information media. Not an official record.