UN Yearbook Website launched, providing free and unprecedented access to organization’s history

9 October 2008. New-York – Kyiv - The United Nations Department of Public Information today launched the first-ever online version of the Yearbook of the United Nations - the world Organization’s flagship reference publication. The new website - unyearbook.un.org - provides free public access to the 59 volumes of the Yearbook collection, detailing the work and achievements of the United Nations system over the first 60 years of its existence (1946-2005). New useful features and volumes will be added as they become available.

The launch of a Web-based version of this extraordinarily rich resource of information about the UN system took place at the opening of first-ever UN Book Days, organized by the Department on 9 and 10 October 2008 at UN Headquarters to showcase information products and services of the United Nations system and intergovernmental organizations.

“The Yearbook is an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the United Nations and its work”, said Kiyo Akasaka, Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, who presided over the event. “The online edition brings our history and accomplishments to life for countless people across the globe, at a time when knowledge and understanding of the issues affecting our world are crucial to the achievement of the United Nations mission.”

The new site incorporates a user-friendly search function, allowing users to locate any Yearbook reference using key words, phrases or document symbols, by year or range of years. Search results can be displayed in plain text or as a printable PDF file. It is expected that the new website will not only serve as a strong research tool, but it will also help users better understand global issues as they affect them today. It will broaden the Organization’s outreach to the public, increasing awareness of, and support for, the United Nations throughout the world.

The Yearbook of the United Nations remains the most comprehensive and authoritative work on the Organization. Each Yearbook volume provides analysis, is fully indexed, and includes the texts of, and votes on, all major General Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Social Council resolutions and decisions. Yearbook chapters are currently divided into five parts covering political and security questions; human rights; economic and social questions; legal questions; and institutional, administrative and budgetary questions. The online version reproduces all Yearbook volumes up to and including the 1,682-page 2005 edition.

For more information on the Yearbook and access to the entire Yearbook collection, visit http://unyearbook.un.org. For more information on the UN Book Days event, go to http://unp.un.org/bookdays.aspx. The Yearbook of the United Nations, 2005 and earlier editions are available for purchase at the UN Bookshop and through UN Publications at https://unp.un.org/default.aspx.

Contact: UN Yearbook Unit, Tel. (917) 367-9326, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .