This research guide is aimed at helping people navigate the complex world of United Nations research. The increasing availability of primary source documents and other information on official web sites of the UN has allowed researchers to conduct a significant amount of current and historical research using the Internet. Because of the value of secondary resources in providing important background, analysis, and citation information to access web based materials effectively, some mention of these titles is also included in this guide. 
The United Nations is an international organization formed after World War II in 1945 to promote international peace, security, and cooperation under the terms of the Charter of the United Nations. Originally signed by 51 founding countries, there  are currently 193 Member States to the UN Charter. The predecessor organization to the UN is The League of Nations established in 1919 by the Covenant of the League of Nations. Additional information on these founding documents is provided in UN Websites section of this guide.

Here are a few introductory resources on the UN and international organizations to get you started and give you an overview of the field.

Use the catalog to search for United Nations materials.

Subject Searching

Use subject searching to find materials that you are looking for in our catalog. Some of the subjects may be further subdivided into region, country, or subtopic. To search those, click on the basic search and then add the country, region, or subtopic to the search term, separated by a double-dash.