Library and Publications

The UN Information Centre library is co-hosted with the Sergio Vieira de Mello library at the United Nations Offices at Nairobi in Gigiri. As an official UN documentation centre, it carries a wide variety of information materials, ranging from maps and brochures to books and UN documents. Among the documents found in the library are: the UN Year Book, the UN Charter, Basic Facts About the United Nations, reports by the UN Secretary-General, as well as literature on peacekeeping, human rights, children, women and gender issues. Most of the materials are published by the Department of Public Information in New York.

The UNIC library distributes materials to members of the public, students, schools, colleges and universities. Some of the materials, however, are reference-only. The Library also serves as a resource centre for the United Nations staff.

The UNIC library is open every day of the week between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday to Thursday, and between 8 a.m. and 12.30 p.m. on Fridays. The UNIC librarian, is also able to answer telephone queries regarding information sources and materials.

The UNIC library is equipped with modern communications technology, through which visitors are guided to the UN electronic resources on the Internet. For example, it has a link to the database in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library in New York, from which users can access information online through the Official document system, a search tool that can retrieve full details of documents.

Online Catalogue :

The online database can be searched in simple and advanced mode. A thesaurus mode is also available which allows for navigation through UNBIS thesaurus. The multilingual UNBIS Thesaurus, created by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, United Nations Department of Public Information, contains the terminology used in subject analysis of documents and other materials relevant to United Nations programmes and activities. It is used as the subject authority of the United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBIS). Advanced searches can be made including fields like Subject, Title, Author, Conference name, Publication year, among others.

List of available Materials housed in the Library

The Reference Library collection includes:

• General Assembly Official Records
• Secutiry Council Official Records
• Economic and Social Council Records
• Trusteeship Council Records
• International Court of Justice Records
• United Nations Treaty Series
• Selected Reports and Statistical Data (Annual, Bi-annual , Quarterly and Monthly)
• United Nations Documents Index

Click here to search for books and other publications in our Online catalogue of UNIC library.