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The Library is open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5:30 pm except when the General Assembly is in session (mid-September to December) when the hours are 9 am to 6 pm. Access to the physical premises is available to all users with a valid United Nations Headquarters grounds pass.

Loans

Most Library material may be borrowed by staff members of the Secretariat and permanent missions and members of delegations with a valid grounds pass to the premises of the United Nations Headquarters. The normal loan period is two weeks. Periodicals as well as United Nations and specialized agency documents and publications may be borrowed for two weeks; however, current periodicals on display and current United Nations documents may not be borrowed. Loans are renewable if no other loan request is pending.

Inter-Library Loans (ILL)

Material needed for official research but outside the collecting scope of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library may be borrowed temporarily (usually four weeks) from other libraries. Reference works and material published in the current year are generally not available through inter-library loan. To facilitate extended research and provide access to other libraries, the Library may make special arrangements and provide letters of introduction. For information about the special regulations of this service, contact the ILL Librarian.

Reference Services

Reference librarians are available to assist users in person, by telephone or e-mail. Please contact the Reference Team, Map Library, Legal Library or the Economic and Social Affairs Library as required.

Official Document System Access

To facilitate access to the United Nations Official Document System, the full text database of United Nations documents, computers are available in all the reading rooms of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library.

Public Internet Workstations

A number of workstations in the reading room on the first floor of the Library (Room L-105) are reserved for Internet access. Service is on a first come, first served basis.

Training

The Library offers staff of the Secretariat and permanent missions, members of delegations and accredited representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) an extensive training programme, which includes courses in the use of its online catalogue UNBISnet, of the United Nations Official Document System and of UN-I-QUE (UN Info Quest), a ready-reference file which facilitates identification of symbols/sales numbers of many United Nations documents. Additional courses provide tips on working with United Nations documents (Introduction to UN Documents), the Internet (UN Web Search) and online resources available through the Library, as well as the information available in the Map Library (Introduction to the Map Collection). A detailed listing of course offerings are posted on the Library's website. 

Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI)

Upon request from the United Nations Secretariat and mission staff, the Library User Services Cluster can electronically provide desktop delivery of global news and information extracted from the online services and electronic publications to which it subscribes. For more information, contact the Reference Team.

Digitization

The Digitization Programme of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library scans United Nations documents prior to 1992 from microfiche or paper and converts them to electronic (pdf) files. These electronic files are then uploaded to the United Nations Official Document System, a storage and retrieval system for United Nations documents in electronic format. The primary focus of the Library's Digitization Programme is the parliamentary documents of the Security Council and General Assembly in all six official languages of the United Nations.

Under its mandate the Dag Hammarskjöld Library is responsible for maintaining bibliographic control over the documentation of the United Nations. Through the United Nations Bibliographic and Information System (UNBIS), the Library provides indexing for United Nations documents and publications issued in New York, Geneva and Vienna, as well as by the regional commissions and other United Nations bodies.