United Nations: Dag Hammarskjöld Library
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl

Organization Overview:
The Dag Hammarskjöld Library was dedicated on 16 November 1961 in honour of the late Secretary-General. The Library Building, a gift from the Ford Foundation adjoins the Secretariat at the south-west corner of the headquarters site.

The Library's legislative mandate was established by the General Assembly in document A/C.5/298 of 28 September 1949. The Library's primary function is to enable the delegations, the Secretariat and other official groups of the Organization to obtain, with the greatest possible speed, convenience and economy, the library materials and information needed in the execution of their duties. The purpose is to provide library services, including maintenance of an archival collection of United Nations documents and publications and in-house production and processing of data, for use by delegates, missions and United Nations staff members, as well as by specialized researchers, while enabling all libraries of the United Nations system to function as a user-oriented network. Furthermore, the Library is to establish depository libraries worldwide for dissemination of United Nations information. (see http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/history.htm for more info)

Projects:

Kai-Sheng Chan worked on the digitization of some key documents in anticipation of library's relocation. He did research on the UN Library's current databases and come up with new solutions for their digitization projects. Kai-Shen also did some hands-on work with digitization and metadata creation.

Xiang Li worked on the digitization of the "Resolution and decisions of the Economic and Social Council for 1999" (approx. 750 pages). He scanned the document in French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese, and then converted them into seachable text using Optical Character Reconition technology. Xiang then uploaded the digitized documents to the UN Library's Optical Disk System (ODS). He also had the opportunity to work with metadata in the ODS.

Amy Anderson worked with the UN Library's Review of Small and Field Libraries Website. She updated several websites, including one with resources to mark the International Day Against Racial Discrimination.

Tebarek Teketel evaluated and verified data in the Library's Electronic Resources List. He also gave them suggestions for resources and improvements.

Rebecca Carter worked with the Sales and Marketing Section of the UN Library. She helped carry out a survey of selected college libraries aimed at determining awareness of, attitudes toward, and knowledge of United Nations Publications and its products.  The survey was also intended to measure librarians' perception of quality of service and identify sources of information they rely on to obtain information about UN publications as well as factors influencing their purchasing decisions.

Ann Claflin and Autumn Kladder assisted the UN Library with accurately measuring the collections. The UN Library will be vacating its location for a period of years during which the building will be renovated. For this reason, it is critical that the Library must have accurate measures of collections.  Ann and Autumn measured some key collections to be moved and assisted in building the movement planning report.  As part of this work, they created a spreadsheet detailing what call numbers were on a set of shelves, how many shelves there were per unit, and a guess at how many feet of books were on each shelf.

What Students Had to Say:

"I loved all of the people from different countries, wearing their native clothing, and speaking different languages. I loved the sense of mission. The United Nations is a very exciting place to be."

"Being at the United Nations and taking a tour of the facilities was the highlight of the week."

"It gave me some more practical experience about how to manage information digitalization"

"Everyone at the United Nations was lovely to us..."

"The people were great - really interested in helping me learn about the UN, the library, and technology in the field."

See what past ASB students did at the UN in 2005.

Original Projects:

Within the Dag Hammarskjöld Library

1) Digitization of "Resolution and decisions of the Economic and Social Council for 1999" in French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese consisting of approximately 750 pages.  Contact: N. Villena

2) Adding metadata ( brief description and keywords) to all pages on DHL Web Site. Only a few pages contain this metadata which is used by search engines to index the site.  Contact J. Modeste

3) Review of Small and Field Libraries Website. Updating information and fixing broken links to external websites.  Contact: J. Modeste  

4) UN Library will be vacating its location for a period of years during which the building will be renovated. The Library must have accurate measures of collections.  Measuring some key collections to be moved and building the movement planning report.  Contact: R. Kohrs

5) Digitization of some key documents in anticipation of library relocation. Involves digitizing and creating appropriate metadata where necessary. Contact: M. Paniagua   

6) Evaluate and verify data in the Library’s Electronic Resources List and suggest improvements. Contact : N. Gines

Within the Sales and Marketing Division

7) The Sales and Marketing Section is interested in carrying out a survey of selected college libraries to determine awareness of, attitudes toward, and knowledge of United Nations Publications and its products.  The survey will also measure librarians' perception of quality of service and will identify sources of information they rely on to obtain information about UN publications as well as factors influencing their purchasing decisions. Contact: G. Trumkalne