Online Research Guides & Tutorials
The UN's Dag Hammarskjold Library offers many guides to assist its patrons, outside researchers, and the general public in researching UN activity. From its home page, researchers can access a compilation of guides authored by UN librarians describing types of UN documents and publications, discussing how to navigate UN resources, and discussing research regarding UN activities in certain subject areas (ex. environment, human rights, peacekeeping, etc.).
- UN Documentation: Overview (UN/Dag Hammarskjöld Library Research Guide)Overview of selected UN documents, publications, databases and websites. Learn more about the documentation practices of the active principal UN organs.
- How to Find UN Documents (UN/Dag Hammarskjöld Library Research Guide)Learn how to find UN documents--resolutions, reports, meeting records, speeches, and more.
- Ask DAGUN librarians have compiled a list of frequently asked questions about researching UN materials.
- UN ResourcesA-Z alphabetical and topical lists of United Nations databases and research tools. Some resources are freely available on the web, while some databases require a subscription. Though VU users will not be able to access subscription resources via the links provided for UN library patrons, they can consult the law library's Databases A-Z list to determine whether the university offers access to a subscription resource of interest.
Other UN Research Guides
- Researching the United Nations: Finding the Organization's Internal Resource TrailsGlobaLex Research Guide by Linda Tashbook
Selected Secondary Sources
The Oxford Handbook on the United Nations by Call Number: E-BookISBN: 0198803168This Handbook provides in one volume an authoritative and independent treatment of the UN's seventy-year history, written by an international cast of more than 50 distinguished scholars, analysts, and practitioners. It provides a clear and penetrating examination of the UN's development since1945 and the challenges and opportunities now facing the organization. It assesses the implications for the UN of rapid changes in the world - from technological innovation to shifting foreign policy priorities - and the UN's future place in a changing multilateral landscape. Citations andadditional readings contain a wealth of primary and secondary references to the history, politics, and law of the world organization. This key reference also contains appendices of the UN Charter, the Statute of the International Court of Justice, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Law and Practice of the United Nations by Call Number: E-BookISBN: 9004318534Publication Date: 2016 (5th Edition)The Law and Practice of the United Nations examines the law of the United Nations through an analysis of the Organization’s practice from its inception until the present, in particular to the transformations the UN has undergone since the end of the Cold War. Special consideration is given to Chapter VII of the UN Charter and its interpretation, the United Nations’ membership and organs’ competences, along with the peaceful settlement of disputes, and coercive action for the maintenance of international peace and security. In addition, this important new edition explores such areas as general and smart sanctions, peacekeeping, authorizations of the Security Council, territorial administrations, self-determination, human rights, financing of the Organization, acts adoptable by the UN organs, and a review of their legality.
