Dag Hammarskjöld Library

Dag Hammarskjöld Library in 2010

Etched-on-marble entrance sign

The library was named after secretary-general Dag Hammarskjöld, who died in a plane crash in 1961

The Dag Hammarskjöld Library is part of the United Nations headquarters and is connected to the Secretariat and conference buildings through ground level and underground corridors. It is named after Dag Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations.

The Library has specialized in two major areas. Firstly, it is the main depository for United Nations documents and publications and maintains a selected collection of materials of the specialized agencies and United Nations affiliated bodies. Secondly, the Library collect books, periodicals and other materials related to the Organization's programmes of activities.

History

The Dag Hammarskjöld Library was founded with the United Nations in 1946. It was originally called the United Nations Library, later the United Nations International Library. In the late 1950s the Ford Foundation gave a grant to the United Nations for the construction of a new library building. Dr. Hammarskjöld was instrumental in securing the funding for the new building. The new building was dedicated on November 16, 1961^[1] just after Dr. Hammarskjöld's death, and was renamed in his honor.

Functions

The Library's primary function is to enable the delegations, Secretariat and other official groups of the United Nations to obtain, with the greatest possible speed, convenience and economy, the library materials and information needed in the execution of their duties. The materials to be assembled and the services to be maintained are determined by the needs of these groups.

The services of the Library are also made available, as far as feasible, to UN specialized agencies, accredited representatives of mass media, international governmental organizations, affiliated non-governmental organizations, educational institutions, scholars and writers.

The Library serves the delegations, Secretariat and other official groups with UN official documents, as well as free access to all the world's news media. It is not open to the general public. However, it does provide electronic access to most of the recent UN documents over the Internet in PDF form through search engines, such as UNBISnet, UN Pulse, UN-I-QUE:UN Info Quest and the Official Document System. There are also indexes to the discussion and action taken on meetings of the major organs, namely <Index to Proceedings>, which are published annually for three major organs: General Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Social Council. The indexes also include results of voting as well as indexes to speeches made before the forum in question during a particular session. The UN documents are cited by a terse hierarchical format [1] where, for example, A/63/PV.22 is the 22nd plenary meeting of the 63rd session of the General Assembly, and S/RES/1845 (2008) is Security Council Resolution 1845.

References

1. ^ "Hammarskjold Library Dedicated". The New York Times: p. 5. November 17, 1961. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40B1FF83F591A728DDDAE0994D9415B818AF1D3. Retrieved 2010-07-09. 

External links

Media related to Dag Hammarskjöld Library at Wikimedia Commons

United Nations portal

• Homepage of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library
• Dag Hammarskjöld Library Catalog
• Vladimir Orlov. "Serving the United Nations: The Dag Hammarskjöld Library". Wilson Library Bulletin. April 1983