United Nations documents are issued by each of the principal organs of the UN as well as by their subsidiary bodies. For this reason, the documentation in its entirety reflects the structure of the Organization.

The organizational chart of the UN is instrumental in obtaining an initial understanding of UN documentation. In particular, the chart lists the five principal organs, and indicates the subsidiary bodies which report to each of these organs.

The chart does not exactly duplicate the arrangement of the UN documentation system. Nevertheless, newly-appointed librarians can study it in order to gain a basic knowledge of the UN, and to learn certain characteristics of the reporting processes of UN organs. The Librarian would know from it, for example, that the Economic and Social Council has functional commissions and standing committees which report to it, that the United Nations Environment Programme reports to the General Assembly and the United Nations Emergency Force to the Security Council.

The information on the chart can be complemented by reviewing basic publications on the Organization such as the Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice (DPI/1398), Basic Facts about the United Nations (DPI/1920, sales no. 98.I.20), Everyone' s United Nations (85.I.16), as well as books published outside the Organization, including the United Nations Handbook, issued each year by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand.

United Nations documents are issued in masthead, offset or printed form. Most documents are identified by symbol, sales code or Official Records designation or by a combination of these elements. Some documents have individual symbol systems which are explained later in this presentation.