With the availability of the UN's electronic tools (UNBISnet, ODS), the need to maintain a print collection is not as important for field libraries that have a reliable and reasonably-priced access Internet connection. Such libraries may decide to retain in paper format only those documents that are essential to their local needs on a regular basis. They would then rely on the electronic tools to gain access to the main collection of UN document, and could print documents as required.

For field libraries that do not have a reliable Internet collection, here are some guidelines on the arrangement of a UN Document Collection.

There are no set rules for the arrangement of the library material. A library may choose any system it prefers, as long as the collection is kept in good order and under adequate control. However, for additional information of a practical nature concerning United Nations documents, categories of distribution, meaning of symbols assigned to documents and indexes published by the United Nations, see document ST/LIB/34/Rev.2, entitled "United Nations documentation: a brief guide", issued in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, and the United Nations Documentation: Research Guide.

1)  A library maintaining a limited collection could choose to arrange the material as follows:

The collection of sales publications may be arranged by sales code, thus achieving a broad subject classification. The arrangement by sales code may be as follows:

     (a) By year, and within year by subject category, then by individual publication code. This arrangement brings together all sales publications issued during the year;

     (b) By subject category, and within category by year, then by individual sales publication code. This arrangement groups all publications by broad subjects. The United Nations Publications Catalogue can be used as a guide for this type of arrangement. It may be more convenient, however, to file recurrent publications, periodicals and volumes of the United Nations Treaty Series by title, rather than by sales code.

Official Records and masthead documents should be arranged in alphabetical order by issuing body organ and session/year; the extraordinary and special sessions after the ordinary sessions. Within the session, or year, they should be arranged in the following order: meeting records (-/PV./-, -/SR./-), annexes, supplements, special supplements, committees (-/C.l/-, -/C.2/-, -/C.3/-, etc.). A detailed breakdown of the arrangement of the Official Records or the main organs of the United Nations is given in the document entitled "United Nations documentation: a brief guide" (ST/LIB/34/Rev.2).

2)  A library maintaining a more complete collection could choose to arrange the material as follows:

     (a) To arrange the collection alphabetically by series symbol, then numerically by the individual document number. As most sales publications also carry a symbol, the library may choose to disregard the sales code and file sales publications by symbol. United Nations Document Series Symbols, 1946-1996 (ST/LIB/SER.B/5/Rev.5 ; Sales No.: 98.I.6) can be used as a guide for filing.

     (b) If a combination of arrangement by sales code and by symbol is chosen, a cross reference placed in the symbols file should indicate where in the sales publications file the particular document is filed.

A document that carries two or more series symbols can be filed according to the first symbol, and cross references can be placed in the other series to indicate where the text of the document is filed. If the document is also a supplement to the Official Records, it can be filed with the Official Records and a cross reference can be placed in each of the symbol series.

Frequently, after a document has been published certain additions or changes can be made in the text. At times, a document is completely superseded by a new text. Documents which modify a text are filed in the following order: -/Amend. ;  -/Corr. ; -/Add.; —Rev. (A revision supersedes the main document and its addenda which can then be discarded).

From 1946 to 1975, the documents and meeting records of the General Assembly and its Main Committees were numbered consecutively. Starting with the thirty-first session, in 1976, their symbol includes the ordinal number of the session in Arabic numerals, followed by the individual document number, starting with number one. Thus the symbol of the General Series of the forty-seventh session of the General Assembly is A/47/-, that of the First Committee begins A/C.1/47/-, and so on. The symbol for the Limited Series begins A/47/L.-, A/C.1/47/L.-, and so on. This system, when continued for documentation of subsequent sessions of the General Assembly, logically results in the basic symbol A/48/- for documentation of the forty-eighth session, A/49/- for documentation of the forty-ninth session, and so on.

In the series of main documents of the thirty-first session of the General Assembly, numbers 1 through 40 were assigned to the supplements to the Official Records for the session; thus the first document issued in the General category of distribution bears symbol A/31/41. In those for the thirty-second session, numbers 1 through 50 were assigned to the supplements; thus the first main document issued for the thirty-second session bears the symbol A/32/51.

Symbols for documents of Economic and Social Council sessions changed as of 1978. They are made up of the symbol for the parent body (E/) followed by the year the document was first submitted for consideration, followed by a sequential number(for the general series) or, up until 1993, by the symbol for a sessional committee (C.1, C.2, etc.). Resolutions and decisions are numbered on a yearly basis, resolutions beginning each year with 1 and decisions beginning each year with 100 (e.g., resolution 1990/1, decision 1990/100, etc.). The following are some examples of document symbols:

     (a) The Council: E/1990/1, E/1990/L.1, E/1990/SR.1;
     (b) The Economic Committee: E/1990/C.1/1, E/1990/C.1/L.1 (until 1993);
     (c) The Social Committee: E/1990/C.2/1, E/1990/C.2/L.1 (until 1993);
     (d) Information documents: E/1990/INF/1.

The Security Council began incorporating the year into the symbols of its documents in 1994 (e.g., S/1994/99), with the exception of resolutions and meeting records.

A simple classification scheme can be devised for publications carrying neither symbol nor sales number. Assistance in working out such a scheme can be provided by the dhlsfl@un.org">staff of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library at United Nations Headquarters, if desired.