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The Dag Hammarskjöld Library is a library on the grounds of the
headquarters of the United Nations zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg , im ...
, located in the Turtle Bay/
East Midtown Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildi ...
neighborhood of
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. It is connected to the
Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ame ...
and
Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...
buildings through ground level and underground corridors. It is named after
Dag Hammarskjöld Dag Hjalmar Agne Carl Hammarskjöld ( , ; 29 July 1905 – 18 September 1961) was a Swedish economist and diplomat who served as the second Secretary-General of the United Nations from April 1953 until his death in a plane crash in September 196 ...
, the second
Secretary-General of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...
. The library was founded in 1946, and the current library building was completed in 1961. The library provides research and reference services to staff of the
UN Secretariat The United Nations Secretariat (french: link=no, Secrétariat des Nations unies) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), The secretariat is the UN's executive arm. The secretariat has an important role in setting the a ...
as well as members of UN permanent missions. Additionally, the library is the main depository for United Nations documents and publications and maintains a selected collection of materials of the specialized agencies and United Nations affiliated bodies, as well as a collection of books, periodicals and other materials related to the organization's programs of activities. The library also produces a digital library of UN materials, an index to the proceedings and documentation of the major UN bodies, as well as providing research guides for finding UN-related material and information. The library also supports the network of UN libraries throughout the world by supporting collaborative information resource purchasing.


History

The Library was founded along with the United Nations in 1946. It was originally called the United Nations Library, and later the United Nations International Library. Its creation was recommended by the 1945 report of the Preparatory Commission of the United Nations, which called for a "library with research and reference facilities" to be included in the Department Conference and General Services, now the Department of General Assembly Affairs and Conference Services. Its responsibilities were further expanded upon in 1949 by the General Assembly, who decided that the primary function of the Library should be "to enable the delegations, Secretariat and other official groups of the Organization to obtain...the library materials and information needed in the execution of their duties." The 1949 document also stipulated that the services of the Library would also be made available to the specialized agencies of the United Nations, as well as select members of the public, such as, international governmental organizations, educational institutions, scholars and writers. A new library building for the UN headquarters was proposed in 1952. By that time, it was recognized that the existing UN library, a 6-story structure formerly owned by the
New York City Housing Authority The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a public development corporation which provides public housing in New York City, and is the largest public housing authority in North America. Created in 1934 as the first agency of its kind in the U ...
(NYCHA), was too small. The NYCHA building could only hold 170,000 books, whereas the UN wanted to host at least 350,000 to 400,000 books in its library. The new facility was slated to cost $3 million. By 1955, the collection was housed in the Secretariat Building and held 250,000 volumes in "every language of the world", according to ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. A 1959 report by Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld found that the building "provides no further opportunity for expansion and prohibits the growth of the Library to that level which would seem commensurate with the fulfilment of its purposes." In 1959, the
Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...
gave a grant of $6.2 million to the United Nations for the construction of a new Library building which would be "of the highest quality, aesthetically designed, furnished, and equipped in conformity with the most modern library standards." In recognition of their donation, the General Assembly instructed the Secretary-General to place a memorial stone at the entrance of the library inscribed with "Gift of the Ford Foundation." Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld was instrumental in securing the funding for the new building. A letter from the President of the Ford Foundation to the
President of the General Assembly The president of the United Nations General Assembly is a position voted by representatives in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on a yearly basis. The president is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly. Election ...
after Hammarskjold's death stated that it was the late Secretary-General's active interest and lobbying in the project to fund a new United Nations library that was a decisive factor in the Foundation's donation. The new building was dedicated on November 16, 1961, just two months after Hammarskjöld's death, and was renamed in his honor.


Functions

The Library's primary functions are laid out in a 1949 Document from the Fifth Committee of the United Nations: * The Library is responsible for all library services at Headquarters and for the acquisition of all library materials. * The Library's primary function is to enable the delegations, 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 services of the Library will also be made available, as far as feasible, to United Nations specialized agencies, accredited representatives of mass media, international governmental organizations, affiliated non-governmental organizations, educational institutions, scholars and writers. * The Headquarters Library is responsible for indexing United Nations documents and publications. The Library is not open to the general public. However, it does provide access to much UN-related information by developing freely accessible online resources and services, and via UN depository libraries worldwide.


Resources and services

The library has created a number of research tools and services to ease access to United Nations documents: * Th
Index to Proceedings (ITP)
is a series of print indexes, especially useful for research on matters prior to 1979. It provides citation to the parliamentary documentation of the principal organs. Each index has two parts: a subject index and an index to speeches delivered. * Th
UN Documentation Research Guides
present an overview of selected UN documents, publications, databases and websites. Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Ask Dag
is a database providing hundreds of answers about the United Nations, its documentation, as well as the services and resources offered by the Library. Available in English, French and Spanish. * Th
UNBIS Thesaurus
is a multilingual database of the controlled vocabulary used to describe UN documents and other materials in the Library's collection. Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
UN Member States on the Record
Provides access to the key documents for each Member State related to its membership in the UN, statements made before the principal organs, draft resolutions sponsored, periodic reports submitted on Human Rights conventions. Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
United Nations Digital Library
The Digital Library includes UN documents, voting data, speeches, maps, and open access 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. Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.


See also

*
League of Nations archives The League of Nations archives is a collection of the historical records and official documents of the League of Nations. The collection is housed at the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), where it is managed by the Institutional Memory Secti ...
*
Total Digital Access to the League of Nations Archives Project (LONTAD) The Total Digital Access to the League of Nations Archives Project, or LONTAD is a grant-funded large-scale digitization project to digitize, preserve, and provide online access to the archives of the League of Nations. Its fundamental aim is to mo ...


References


External links


Homepage of the Dag Hammarskjold LibraryDag Hammarskjöld Library Catalog for books and articlesDag Hammarskjöld Library Catalog for UN documents and publications
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dag Hammarskjold Library Libraries in New York (state) Headquarters of the United Nations Turtle Bay, Manhattan Modernist architecture in New York City Libraries established in 1946 1946 establishments in New York City