searching the official document system (ods)

Searching the Official Document System (ODS)

Reference TeamUN Dag Hammarskjöld Library

212 [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

What is ODS

• Full-text database of official UN documents

• Started in 1993 and required password for access

• Became available to the general public in 2004

What is available on ODS:

• Comprehensive, though not complete, coverage of all types of publicly-available UN documentation began in the early to mid-1990s.

• resolutions going back to 1946 (Security Council, General Assembly, Economic and Social Council and Trusteeship Council)

• Major Security Council documents going back to 1946 and selected General Assembly documents going back to 1985

• draft resolutions• meeting Records (PVs and SRs) – may come sometime later• reports• letters, note verbales• daily journals • administrative issuances (ST/AI/-, ST/IC/-, ST/SGB/-)• Administrative Tribunal Judgments

What can’t be accessed in ODS?

• Most documents created prior to the early to mid-1990s (prior to the mid-1980s for General Assembly)

• UN sales publications (e.g. 04.II.K.7)• UN public information materials (eg. Brochures,

pamphlets)• UN press releases and briefings (see News Centre Web

site)• UN Treaty Series (see Treaties database via the

International Law link in UN website)• Documents that are not publicly released. E.g Oil-for-

Food report

How to Access ODS

• Through: www.un.org• Via iSeek, the UN Intranet, under

QUICKLINKS• There are 2 search screens for ODS:

Enhanced ODS Search (quite new):• http://documents.un.org/s.html (via iSeek)• http://www.un.org/en/documents/ods/ (via the

UN website)Old ODS Search (Classic ODS)• http://documents.un.org

http://www.un.org/

Enhanced ODS

• Features include:– Google type search, – may limit your results to the issuing body, by date or

language– allows one to create RSS feeds – document can only be opened in pdf format– each language version is a hit so your results will be high– searches across all databases within ODS including the old

resolutions database so no need to conduct a separate search for this.

– Need to include the slashes (/) when doing symbol search– Allow use of Boolean connectors to refine or combine

search

*See p.7 of handout

Old (Classic)ODS

2 Search screens:1. Simple search screen

• Searches the UN documentation database only (1993 onwards)

• Search by document symbol or full-text• Does not search for old resolutions (1946-1993)

*see p.8 of handout

Classic ODS

Sorting Options

By date- latest document published will be retrieved first.

This is usually the default. By document symbol

- usually starts with “A” for GA documents, unless it is a specific symbol search.

By relevance- applies only to full-text searches where the

document that has the most occurrences of the term (s) searched will be retrieved first.

Classic ODS

Date Column

Results page:

A/RES/55/2A/RES/55/20A/RES/55/200 etc.

Classic ODS

File Formats

Microsoft Word or Word Perfect – Not always available

Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) –RECOMMENDED

Includes: maps, attachments, declarations, newspaper articles, etc.

-- Text format (PDF): Created from text. May be displayed, printed and/or downloaded. May be retrieved in a full-text search.

-- Image format (IMG): Created from a scanned document. May only be displayed, printed and/or downloaded. Will not be retrieved in a full-text search

Classic ODS2. Advanced Search screen:• Features:

a) Various databases:• UN documentation database• Old resolutions database (1946-1993)• Daily journals• Daily lists of documents for Geneva and Vienna

• b) More searching options:• Symbol (more truncating option)• Date searching (also available in simple search)• Title• Subject• Agenda number and session• Full-text

• *see p.11

Classic ODS- Advanced Search

Resolutions Database

• No full-text search capability • Titles are searchable in English only• Release dates are arbitrary• Resolutions from 1946 to 1993

General Assembly: to 51st sessionSecurity Council: to 1993Economic and Social Council: to 1993**Trusteeship Council: to 1987

**Not issued separately, see compilation list for symbol information:http://lib-unique.un.org/lib/unique.nsf/Link/R00628

NOTE: Resolutions from commissions are found in their annual reports and stored in the “UN Documents”database.


Resolutions database:

• General Assembly resolutions from 1946-1975 do not include the session numbers in the symbols, numbers were consecutive, with the session written as roman numerals in brackets, e.g., A/RES/3056 (XVIII). Session numbers were included from 1976 onwards (31st session), e.g. A/RES/35/46

• Security Council resolution symbols are consecutive with the year at the end of the symbol in brackets, e.g. S/RES/792 (1992)

• ECOSOC resolutions are not issued as separate documents and are included in the compilation of resolutions and decisions for the year.

• *see p.12


Daily Journal database:Use when you need:

– summary of meetings that you may have missed

– information about informal meetings– information on chairs of regional groups– information on the documents that have been

released

• *see p.13


Types of searches:• Searching by symbol

– similar to symbol searching in the simple search screen

– more truncation options available.– may combine with other searching option to limit your

search to just a particular body or to a type of document, in particular resolutions or meeting records.

– Clicking on the lexicon button will open a new window listing document symbols in alphabetical order beginning with symbol you type in.


• Searching by date: There are 2 options available for date searching:

- by publication date: • date when drafting is completed and document is

submitted for processing, e.g. editing, translation, etc…date below document symbol

- by release date: • date when the document becomes available on

ODS and to the public.

• See p.14


• Searching by date:– Use when:

• you need to refine your search to specific date range (can combine with other search options)

• searching the daily journal database• when you are not sure what other search option(s)

to use but have an idea of when the document was released/published.


Searching by Title:– no need to know the full title– remember that most UN documents have

similar titles.– most times you will need to combine with

another search option to get meaningful result.

– *see p.15


• Searching by Agenda and session– If you are looking for a General Assembly

document and know the agenda item and the session, you may find documents on the topic associated with the agenda item.

– *see p.16


Full-text searching• Full-text searching is available on both the simple and

the advanced search pages. • Full-text searches can be performed in any of the six

official languages using either a pre-set search type or search expressions with (Boolean) operators.

• Arabic, Chinese, Russian and Spanish full-text search is possible only for documents published since 1 January 2001.

• Some documents stored only in image format cannot be retrieved by a full-text search, in particular all resolutions in the Resolutions database.

• *see p.17


Full-Text Search Options

When you don’t know a document symbol, it’s helpful to use the full-text search option available in both the “Simple” and “Advanced Search” screens.

Use “Find This Phrase” to find documents with an exact string of words in the text. An example would be:

To find documents that contain a group of words in the text, but not in any specified order, select “Find All The Words.” An example would be:

“middle east situation”

Annan Ghandi Mandela


More “Full-Text Search” Options

Use the setting “Find any of the words” when you’re looking a document that contains a word with many synonyms like oil. An example of synonyms you might include would be:

If are familiar with other online database searching and you understand Boolean logic, you could use the “Boolean Operators”option to combine concepts with “and,” “or” and “and not.” An example would be:

NOTE: More information and examples are available by clicking on the “Help” button in ODS. There are also a few other options we do not explain here.

oil petroleum petrol gasoline

poverty and hunger and not mortality


• Boolean operators – This search mode may become necessary for more

complex searches that combine some or all of the above preset search types.

– Currently, the system allows users to construct their own search strategies using the following Boolean operators: AND, OR, AND NOT and SENTENCE.

– The system allows a search to be structured with the help of parentheses ( ).

– All words that need to be matched exactly and all phrases have to be enclosed in quotation marks, “”.

– *see p.19


Important Search Tip

Your search results may be more precise if you use all the information you know about a document. If you get zero documentsin a search where you have included a lot of information, try removing search elements or truncating words in the full-text box by using the asterisk character:

You will not find the document(s) you need if you have spelling errors in your search term, so be careful when you’re typing or double-check your spelling if you can’t find a document you believe exists.

ODS also requires that you use hyphens and accents in searches when they are used in a document.

protocol*


More Important Search Tips

You may use the question mark (wildcard) as a search tool in both the title and full-text field if you aren’t sure of the spelling or if a root word may have multiple forms. For example, documents on the same subject may use women or woman and you may search for both forms like this:

You may also use the word SENTENCE in your search to ensure that there is a close logical or meaningful connection between the words

Wom?n

“best practices” SENTENCE aids SENTENCE prevent*


• Subject Search:This training does not cover subject searching because:

– ODS uses controlled language (UNBIS thesaurus) and not necessarily those that the user would normally use to search, e.g. you may be searching for “children’s rights” when the database uses “rights of the child”;

– Does not allow searching for names of bodies, conferences, meetings or persons;

– May use when searching for documents for a specific country;– It is recommended that you use the Library catalogue, UNBISnet

for subject searching.

E-Subscription and Linking

e-Subscription:• Apply for e-subscription to allow you to receive the latest

documents published either by email or through RSS.http://undocs.org/#/home

Linking to ODS• One can link directly to documents in ODS by using the

following URL:– http://undocs.org/A/65/114 : change the symbol (in bold) to

reflect the symbol of the document you wish to link to.

• Send questions to: [email protected]• or call Reference desk: 212 963-7412

http://undocs.org/#/home

mailto:[email protected]

searching the official document system (ods)

Self Improvement

daily journal

simple search

general assembly

daily journals

advanced search

documentation

2 search screens

search option