Introduction to UNBISnet

1
Introduction to UNBISnet
United Nations Bibliographic Information System
Welcome to this short introduction to UNBISnet,
the United Nations Bibliographic Information
System. During this presentation we will show
you how to use this online library catalogue to
find Dag Hammarskjöld Library document holdings,
which includes links to the full-text of recent
UN documents. Please note that this course is
intended for searchers with at least a basic
knowledge of UN documentation and document
symbols.
2
In order to access UNBISnet, type
http//unbisnet.un.org into the address bar of
any Internet browser and press enter.
3

• What type of information is included in
  UNBISnet?
  
• UNBISnet is comprised of three databases
• Bibliographic Records
• Catalogue of United Nations documents and
  publications indexed by the UN Dag Hammarskjöld
  Library in New York and the Library of the UN
  Office at Geneva. Also included are commercial
  publications and other non-UN sources held in the
  collection of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library.
• Voting Records
• The voting records for resolutions which were
  adopted - either without a vote or by roll-call
  or recorded vote - by the General Assembly and
  the Security Council.
• Index to Speeches
• Citations to speeches made in the General
  Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and
  Social Council and the Trusteeship Council.

4
(No Transcript)
5
Information about the date coverage is listed
here for each of the three databases. You may
have to scroll down to view all the information.
6
This menu provides links to other UN
documentation resources. Clicking on these links
takes you out of UNBISnet.
7

• Bibliographic Record search page
• Two bibliographic search options may be used to
  find either UN documents or items produced
  outside the UN but held in the Dag Hammarskjöld
  Library collection.
• The next screen will explain the different search
  options available on the New Keyword Search
  page.
  
• NOTE This tutorial only describes how to find
  UN documents, but the search strategies shown may
  also be used to retrieve non-UN items held in the
  Dag Hammarskjöld Library collection, i.e.
  commercial publications, laws of Member States,
  scholarly journals.

• New Keyword Search
• New Browse List Search

8
Tabs at the top of the screen remind us which
database were searching, in this case, the Bib
Record or Bibliographic Record database. You
may move to a different database by clicking on
the tabs or you may start a new search by
clicking on the links on the blue bar.
Also, notice the ? Help link in the upper righ
t-hand corner.
9
The first drop-down menu on the left side of the
search area allows you to choose from many
different fields, the most important of which are
listed here Subject (All), Title (All),
Title and Notes, Author, and UN Document
Symbol / Sales Nos.
10
There are four ways to customize how the database
reads the words you enter in the search box
Match all words, Match as a phrase, Match
when adjacent and Match within 5 words.
Scroll down on the search screen to see more
search options.
11
There are several ways to limit your search
Database, Type of Record or Type of
Material, Language and Date using the limit
options on the lower part of the screen.
12
Depending on your needs, you may want to sort
your results by UN Document symbol, Title or
Publication Date, which is the default.
13

• Sample Bibliographic Record search
• Lets use the Bibliographic Record search page
  to identify recent reports of the
  Secretary-General on forests.
  
• On the next slide, well put forests in the
  Title (All) field and use the limit box to
  select Type of Material (B15) Reports/Letters
  (UN Secretary-General).

14
(No Transcript)
15

• Results page overview
• After pressing , you should see a new page
  with a list of results that lists the number of
  matches, titles of the items retrieved, imprint
  information (location and date), UN document
  symbols, publication dates and links to full-text
  versions in official UN languages for recent
  material.
• From the results page, you may
• Click on the title for more indexing information
  about the document, which includes the number of
  pages, authors and contributors, subject keywords
  and holding information.
• Click on the full text link to go directly to
  the document.

16
Well click on the title of the first document
to see the full record.
17
Well scroll down to see the rest of the record.
18
This document is accessible electronically in all
official languages and in hard copy at the Dag
Hammarskjöld Library. Click on Back to go back
to the results page.
19
In order to refine your search results, you may
click on Refine Search from the original
results page.
20
This screen now shows the original search
strategy, but the word economic has been added to
refine the search.
21
Now 2 items are retrieved.
22
Search tip A time-saving tip is to put the cod
e b15 in the search box, bypassing the limit box,
in order to limit the results to reports and
letters of the Secretary-General
Other useful codes are A19 Treaties B
17 SC Pres. Statements B01 Resolutions/Decisi
ons B18 Letters (not Secretary-
B02 Draft Resolutions/Decisions General)
B03 Meeting Records B06 Veto (UN Security Cou
ncil) B11 Maps B16 Reports/Studies A comp
lete list of codes may be obtained by clicking on
? Help in the upper right hand corner.
forests economic b15
23
Additional Bibliographic Record search
On the next screen, well look for resolutions on
conflict diamonds. First, well click on New K
eyword Search. We will leave the search field
as the default Subject and then well type
conflict diamonds in the search box followed by
the material code b01 to limit our search to UN
Resolutions and Decisions.
24
(No Transcript)
25
This search retrieved 17 items.
In general, when researching resolutions, keep i
n mind that Security Council and General Assembly
resolutions have been digitized going back to
1946.
26
Voting Records search page From the UNBISnet ho
me page, or by clicking on Voting Records
search from any search page within UNBISnet, two
search options may be used to find the voting
records for resolutions which were adopted -
either without a vote or by roll-call or recorded
vote - by the General Assembly and the Security
Council. The next screen will explain the
different search options available on the New
Keyword Search page, which is very similar to
the Bibliographic Record page.

• New Keyword Search
• New Browse List Search

27
The first drop-down menu on the left side of the
search area allows you to choose from three
different fields UN Resolution Symbol,
Keyword and Vote Date. The menu on the right
is the same as in the bibliographic record search
screen. Dont forget to scroll down to see the
rest of the screen.
28
There are only three types of limit available on
this search page Action Body and Vote Type
and Voting Date.
29
Voting Records sample search
In order to search for a voting record, you will
need to know the resolution number, keywords or a
date. NOTE Dates must be formatted as
YYYYMMDD. 16 October 2002 would be formatted
like this Lets search for the voting record o
f the 100th resolution of the 55th session of the
General Assembly. The symbol is A/RES/55/100,
which we will enter into the UN Resolution
Symbol field on the next screen.
Search tip If you enter a document symbol, t
here is no need to use any further limits.
20021016
30
Notice that punctuation is eliminated on the
keyword search screen, so ares55100 is entered
into the search box.
31
Because there is only one record that matches our
search, the results page defaults to the full
record view. There is a voting summary and also
a link to the full text of the resolution. Near
the bottom is a list of the action taken by each
Member State.
32
Voting Records key As seen on the previous scre
en, when there is a recorded vote, each Member
State is listed with an indication of the action
taken Y Yes N No A Abstention 9 Artic
le 19 A blank means the Member State did not part
icipate in the vote.
33
For General Assembly resolutions, it is advisable
to set the option "Vote Type Resolution Adopted
with a Vote" in the "Limits" box since the
majority of resolutions are adopted without a
vote. Setting this option will reduce the results
to only those instances in which a recorded vote
was taken.
34
Index to Speeches search page
From the UNBISnet home page, or by clicking on
Index to Speeches from any search page within
UNBISnet, two search options may be used to find
speeches from the major bodies of the United
Nations. The next screen will explain the dif
ferent search options available on the New
Keyword Search page, which is very similar to
the Bibliographic Record and Voting Record
screens we have already demonstrated.

• New Keyword Search
• New Browse List Search

35
There are five useful search fields in the
drop-down menu on the left side of the search
area Meeting Record Symbol, Speaker,
Country/Organization, Subject and Speech
Date. Dont forget to scroll down.
36
There are only two types of limit available on
this search page Action Body and Speech
Date.
37
Lets retrieve speech citations for Monaco. We
have changed the search field to
Country/Organization and typed Monaco in the
search box.
38
This search currently found 66 speeches. From
this screen, you see the meeting record, date,
speaker, country and a link to the full text for
recent speeches. Click on New Keyword Search to
conduct another search.
39
In order to search for a speech by a specific
person, type all or a part of the name of a
person. The order does not matter. In this
example, were looking for General Assembly
speeches given by Nelson Mandela, so we typed
nelson mandela in the search box. NOTE
Capitalization does not affect search results in
UNBISnet.
40
This search found 4 speech citations.
41
Browse List screen There is an option to browse
certain field lists in alphabetical order for
all documents in UNBISnet in each of the three
databases available by clicking on New Browse
List Search from any search screen or from the
UNBISnet home page. A browse list search is most
useful when you know the document symbol or the
exact title. NOTE Browse List searches are
automatically truncated on the right and initial
articles are ignored. The Browse List concepts
are the same for all three databases, so well
only demonstrate the Bib Record Search page
here.
42
It is not possible to browse more than one list
at a time, so there is only one search box. The
following categories are most useful in browse
list search UN Document Symbol, All Title,
Journal Title, Series Title and Author.
43
In this example, we know that the
Secretary-Generals report on the composition of
the Secretariat is A/58/666, so we type the
symbol into the search box and press Go.
Notice that punctuation must be included in a
browse list search.
44
We now see the symbol we entered as the first
item in a list of symbols on which we can click
to see the full record.
45
Scroll down to see the link to the full text.
In general, when researching UN documentation, r
emember that documents prior to the early 1990s
may not be available electronically.
46
This document is from 2003, so it is available
electronically. Well scroll up to click on New
Browse List Search to try another example.
47
In this example, were looking for the latest
edition of the Human Development Report. We
changed the search field to All title, typed
human development report in the search box and
pressed Go.
48
As you can see, several documents match the title
we entered because this publication comes out
every year. Scroll down to see the 2004 report.

49
Human development report. 2004 is further down
in the list because the browse list search reads
character strings from left to right. Click on
the title to see the full record.
50
There is no document symbol, only a sales number.
To order a hard copy, you will need to reference
the UN Sales Number. Scroll down to see more of
the full record.
51
Clicking on this link, will download the full
text of the 2004 Human Development Report via the
UNDP web site.
52

• Questions?
• Weve given a number of examples in this short
  introductory session, but keep in mind that
  UNBISnet offers many other search options.
  Also, remember that a wider variety of
  documentation and items are available than we
  were able to demonstrate for this course.
• If you have questions about UNBISnet
• Remember to consult the help pages by clicking
  on ? Help located in the upper right hand
  corner of the all screens.
  
• Contact your local UN library, depository
  library or information centre.