First among the changes is the imminent cessation of UNDOC: Current Index which a generation of librarians and researchers have come to rely on as the primary index to the voluminous working documentation, Official Records, and sales publications of the UN. While the DHL's plans are not definite, it anticipates replacing UNDOC with either an abbreviated version or a series of subject bibliographies. In recent years, the Library teamed up with Chadwyck- Healey and contracted with the company to produce UNBIS Plus on CD-ROM as its official and expanded indexing tool. While this enhanced CD-ROM, with its cumulative indexing and inclusion of full-text resolutions, voting information, and the like, constitutes a vibrant alternative to the more staid paper UNDOC with its lagging annual microfiche cumulations, there is a big catch for libraries. The UNDOC package (quarterlies with annual cumulations) sold for $150 per year; the UNBIS Plus on CD-ROM is $895. While some larger libraries may continue to secure their indexing from the competing Readex Index to United Nations Documents and Publications, an attractive CD-ROM product which comes free back to 1990 with the company's well-known microfiche collection of the working documentation, some larger libraries may also be able to spring for the official UNBIS Plus. However, it would be this author's hope that the UN would continue to offer at least an abbreviated UNDOC for those smaller public and school libraries for whom either CD-ROM is prohibitive. The DHL would welcome comments on its information products.

Also, since 1993 the UN has been moving forward with an optical disk system for storage of its documentation. Although sales publications and Official Records are excluded from the project, the UN is going back all the way with resolutions and has already converted 1500 volumes of the Treaty Series (UNTS), as well as the older League of Nations Treaty Series, to optical disk. The Office of Legal Affairs is seeking a service provider to disseminaate the Treaty Series, charge users, and give royalties to the UN. Status of the print UNTS was not discussed.

Probably the most noticeable change in the flow of UN information comes through the agency's initiatives in developing Web sites. Besides the normal flow of business and academic users, every spring and fall many libraries are deluged with an influx of Model UN students. This year, for the first time in my periodic missive to high school Model UN coordinators in the Central New Jersey area, I have added a line suggesting to them that if their school is Internet accessible, students may be able to obtain select pieces of needed UN information from the UN's official site or, for instance, from the very useful United Nations Scholars' Workstation sponsored by Yale at http://www.library.yale.edu/ un/unhome. htm. With NetDayNJ scheduled to wire 200 schools statewide in October and another 800 in April, this recommendation takes on increasing utility.

The UN's official web site is http:// www.un.org.

While eleven introductory icons invite the user to explore, icons of most immediate value to Model-UNers will probably be ones for Documents or for Departments. Under the former one finds the complete text of resolutions; for the Security Council to 1974; for the General Assembly to 1981; and for the Economic and Social Council to 1982. A section on documents of recent United Nations conferences may also have special value. The Departments icon leads to two frequently requested sources. Treaties have become available at http://www.un.org/ Depts/ Treaty and a trial run of the well-established Monthly Bulletin of Statistics has appeared at http://www.un.org/Depts/unsd/mbsreg.htm.

To utilize either of these two sites, however, the user must be prepared to register and establish a password. As the UN moves toward outsourcing treaties and other materials requiring registration, pricing will become a central issue. Another new Web site is the Dag Hammarskjold Library's own home page at http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl. Useful reference guides already include bibliographies on United Nations reform, on the Security Council, and on the Charter, as well as a Guide to Major UN Conferences.

Speaking of UN reform, as many of you already are aware, the 50th anniversary of the UN, coupled with controversies surrounding payment of our arrears, management of the UN, and its own world activities all precipitated numerous discussions and reports on reform of the institution. Anyone following recent newspaper coverage of the UN and reporting by Barbara Crossette in the New York Times (see, for instance, her "U.N. Plans to Hold Spending and Cut Staff by 30 Percent," 17 August 1996, p.5) knows the threats the UN is undergoing, and attendees at the Workshop on United Nations Documentation came away with the sense that staff within the DHL have considerable concern over its own future. It was suggested that if we value the Library's products and services, now is the time to let our legislators know.

The Workshop itself was excellent, and the Library merits congratulations for its increasing efforts to provide outreach of this kind. Time did not, of course, permit attention to developments within the specialized agencies of the UN. The specialized agencies, too, have been active in establishing Web sites. In exploring sites, the only one which lacked a Web presence was the International Maritime Organization.

The following URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) visited recently are ones librarians may wish to bookmark for future convenience:

Each of the above specialized agencies has its own products and systems of bibliographic access and sites will continue to change and grow. In addition to the specialized agencies, there are many other UN bodies.

To access these, refer to the newly created Official Web Site Locator for the United Nations System at http://www.unsystem.org/.

--Mary Fetzer, Alexander Library, Rutgers University