United Nations - Marriott Library Collection: Masthead Documents

Masthead Documents

These comprise the largest part of the UN collection. They are issued with series symbol numbers. These are the numbers referred to in the UN indexes and the numbers by which the documents are shelved in the UN collection. The Masthead Documents consist of working documents for the delegates of the UN and special reports on topics of interest to the UN. The series symbol number is used to find the document in the stacks. The segments of the series number identify the issuing organ, subsidiary organ, type of document, and the number of the individual document within the series. Slash marks divide the symbols into sections (e.g., A/C.7/49/30 = General Assembly/7th Committee/49th Session/Document #30).

Many of these documents (meeting records, resolutions) are provisional in nature and are reissued later in the Official Records of that organ. When a document reappears as part of the Official Records, the document series number remains the same. The vast majority of the Marriott Library's Masthead documents are cataloged. If you have a call number, you can check the shelf to see if we have it in paper. If you don't find what you are looking for, and your document was issued between 1946 and 1981, you should look in the READEX United Nations microfiche collection. To find items by call number in this collection, it helps to know the year it was issued, although it is possible to search for an item with only the document symbol.  You may be able to find many of these documents on the UN's Official Documents System.

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