The United Nations Digital Library (UNDL) includes UN documents, voting data, speeches, maps, and flagship publications. The platform provides access to UN-produced materials in digital format and bibliographic records for print UN documents starting in 1979. System features include linked data between related documentation such as resolutions, meeting records and voting, and refining of searches by UN body, agency or type of document.
Click on Help at the top of the screen for a detailed guide on how to use the UN Digital Library.
UN Digital Library options include:
Access the Simple search from the Digital Library homepage.
1. On the Digital Library homepage, the Simple Search box appears as below:
2. Enter your keywords or the document symbol and click on "Search".
More information on Simple searches can be found in the Help text.
It is possible to do full text searching several ways in the Digital Library.
The example below searches for documents that mention Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security.
After a simple search for keywords, toggle the Fulltext Search ON
Alternatively, in the simple search, use the command fulltext:"key words"
Another option: in the advanced search, select fulltext from the dropdown then click the Search button
More information on Fulltext searching can be found in the Help text.
The Advanced Search provides easy access to all available search options. Simply choose from drop-down menus without having to know a specific search syntax.
Enter search terms, then use the drop-down menus to select the search fields and optionally select a Boolean operator to combine your search terms. As in the Simple Search, the default setting is the Boolean AND.
Up to three search bars can be combined to search by author, title, document symbol, agenda, year, abstract and notes, series, subject, or fulltext.
More information about Advanced Search features can be found in the Help text.
Additional features for registered users include:
Please complete the following form to request an account. If the form does not load, contact the Dag Hammarskjöld Library.
It is easy to add a UN Digital Library search box to any webpage. The search URL is constructed using regular GET parameters. This is how to do it.
1. To embed just the simple search box, put the following HTML code where you want it to appear on your site :
<form name="search" action="https://digitallibrary.un.org/search" method="get">
<input type="text" name="p" value="" />
<input type="submit" name="action_search" value="Search" />
</form>
You can append any style you want to this box
2. To add elements to refine the search to a certain collection, you can add a hidden input field for the collection attribute c.
This creates a textbox and maps the values to the c parameter of the search. For example, this box just searches in the Voting Data:
<form name="search" action="https://digitallibrary.un.org/search" method="get">
<input type="hidden" name="c" value="Voting Data">
<input name="p" type="text" value="" />
<input name="action_search" type="submit" value="Search" />
</form>
3. To create a dropdown to allow users to select among collections.
This creates a select dropdown and maps the values to the c parameter of the search. For example, use the following code to enable users to search in one of the three main collections of the UN Digital Library: Documents and Publications, Voting Data, and Speeches.
<form action="https://digitallibrary.un.org/search" method="get" name="search">
<select name="c">
<option value="Documents and Publications">Documents and Publications</option>
<option value="Voting Data">Voting Data</option>
<option value="Speeches">Speeches</option>
</select>
<input name="p" type="text" value="" /> <input name="action_search" type="submit" value="Search" />
</form>
We do not recommend iframe to embed the UN Digital Library search on your site.
The UN Digital Library provides access to UN-produced content including UN documents and publications and information about UN materials in our collections (metadata).
In the UN Digital Library, it is possible to find records with and without digital files, as well as other Library-created metadata such as voting information for resolutions adopted by the General Assembly and Security Council, and citation to speeches made in the principal organs.
The UN Digital Library searches on metadata fields in English. Practices on metadata creation have varied over the years. In general, records have:
Many records have more extensive information, such as:
More information on the scope of the UN Digital Library can be found in the About/Scope section of the Help text.
Does the Digital Library host digital files?
Yes, the Digital Library includes both digital files associated with a record, and citation only records without digital files.
How often is the Digital Library updated?
Metadata and files are added to the system Monday-Friday. New documents are added as they become available.
169,000 pages digitized in 2023
Online: Mon-Fri: 9am–5pm ET
Reading rooms: Mon-Fri: 10am-4pm ET