Resource of the Week: UN Library Weblog
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor

Said Gary, “I think in the 60 some months ResourceShelf has been around we’ve had very few blogs as Resource of the Week.” True enough…so we picked out an excellent one to share with you now.

UN Pulse
Source: United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library

Especially if you are a DocuTicker reader, you know how many reports and other items — truly useful and informative stuff — are generated by the plethora of UN agencies and offices. We try and keep up with what’s being released by monitoring websites and reading press releases, although many of our finds are unearthed via serendipitous browsing. After looking at UN Pulse, I’m convinced that it is more efficient to let the UN librarians do some of our current awareness for us.

UN Pulse alerts you to selected just-released UN online information, major reports, publications and documents. Created and maintained by a team of reference librarians at the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library in New York, UN Pulse is updated as new information is published and received.

This is a pretty standard weblog — with archived postings (by month), a baker’s dozen subject categories (in alphabetical order, from Appointments to Specialized Agencies), a short list of useful links, a keyword search box (upper right) and — mirabile dictu — an RSS feed.

Just reviewing postings for the month of December (volume is moderate), I learned about:
+ The UN Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration Resource Center
+ The new US Action to Counter Terrorism website
+ A downloadable International Migration 2006 wall chart
+ The 2007 State of the World’s Children report
+ Connect the World, “an interactive map of world telecommunication indicators”
+ A Criminal Justice Assessment Toolkit from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime

Earlier this month, UN Pulse received a UN21 Commendation (PDF; 97 KB) “in recognition of its contribution to increasing awareness worldwide of the work and activities of the UN.” Well deserved, we’d say.