IGOs and NGOs
An intergovernmental organization (IGO) is a structure based on a formal instrument of agreement between nations (e.g. the United Nations, the EU).
A non-governmental organization (NGO)
is a group whose members are individuals or associations (e.g. the International Committee of the Red Cross).
For a comprehensive description about the origin, structure, and growth of NGOs, please see Peter Willetts' excellent "What is a Non-Governmental Organization?"
There are thousands of IGOs and NGOs. The Union of International Associations (an NGO itself) edits the annual publication Yearbook of International Organizations. The Yearbook is a comprehensive directory of IGOs and NGOs, and provides contact information and a description of the work of the organization. It indexes organizations by subject. The Yearbook is available in the Main Reference department and in Gov Info Reference. The call number is 341.05 Y38.
The International Documents Collection contains the publications of approximately 25 IGOs and a few NGOs. The International Information Librarian maintains a guide with a comprehensive list of links to IGO web sites. Although the International Information Librarian also maintains a guide that links to foreign government web sites, the collection does not contain the publications or documents of foreign governments.
For more information about NGOs, please see Duke University Libraries' excellent NGO Research Guide.
IGOs and NGOs whose publications are included in the International Documents Collection
