General information The United Nations Optical Disk System (ODS) is a system for storing and retrieving United Nations documents that uses an optical disk as the back-end storage medium and allows users to search for and retrieve documents via high-speed networks and the Internet, and permits high-speed transmission of documents through telecommunications links. The system provides a more economical and secure means of distributing and storing parliamentary documents worldwide and permits timely access to such documents in electronic form by United Nations offices, permanent missions to the United Nations and other government offices as appropriate, other organizations of the United Nations system and other international organizations, the mass media, and other interested institutions, such as libraries and universities, as well as the general public. The parliamentary documentation and official records stored and available on-line on the United Nations networks and on the Internet, are described and indexed using the structure of the United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBIS). They include pre-session, in-session and post-session documentation for meetings of the Security Council, the General Assembly and its subsidiary bodies, the Economic and Social Council and its subsidiary bodies and the Trusteeship Council, and for special global conferences convened by the United Nations. The documents and official records are stored in all official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. A special feature for "other languages" has been added in the current version of the system. Subscription Access to ODS is free for staff members of the United Nations Secretariat, for a limited number of users in specialized agencies and organizations of the UN System, and for up to ten users in Member States of the United Nations. Requests for access can be submitted to the following persons, as noted below, depending upon location: Permanent Missions in New York Ms. Marie Hodge-Alcantara E-mail: registration@un.org, fax: 212-963-0952, telephone:+1 212-963-1748. Missions to the United Nations Office at Geneva Mr. Wolfgang Schutt E-mail: wschutt@unog.ch, fax: +41 22 9170025; telephone + 41 22 9173636 Missions to the United Nations in Vienna E-mail: ODS@unov.un.or.at; fax to Chief Electronic Services Unit at + 43 1 21 3467-4260 (an application form in PDF is available at http://www.un.org.at ) Access to ODS for other interested parties is available on a subscription basis. Information on how to subscribe can be obtained by contacting the following persons, depending upon location: Americas, Eastern Asia and Pacific: Sales and Marketing Section, Room DC2-0853, United Nations, New York, NY 10017; E-mail: publications@un.org; fax: +1 212-963-3489; telephone:+1 212-963-8305 and 1-800-253-9646 (only within USA) Europe, Middle East and Africa: Mr. Patrice Piguet, Chief, Sales Section (Geneva), United Nations, Room DSC-115, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland; E-mail: ppiguet@unog.ch; fax: + 41 22 9170027; telephone: + 41 22 917261 2 |