Organizational Analysis of the United Nations University Collections

Part One: Mission, Vision & Value Statements, Environmental Scan, and SWOT Analysis

Helen Ly
Snow Marlonsson
Loren Reese
Amanda Treat
Shibrie Wilson
San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science

Professor Robert Boyd

LIBR 204 11
October 24, 2014

Abstract

This is part one of an organizational analysis conducted on the United Nations University
and specifically the United Nations University Library and Collection. A review of literature
focusing on the topic of accessibility in a global organization is presented along with
recommendations for an updated mission, vision and value statement for the United Nations
University, with the Collection falling under the umbrella of the Universitys jurisdiction. Also
included is an environmental scan highlighting the fundamental basics of the University and
Collection, followed by a study of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for this
organization. The literature on accessibility is especially significant to this organization as they
are have recently decided to digitize their collection for internal and public use.

Keywords: United Nations University; United Nations University Collection; UNU;

library; Tokyo; literature; accessibility; environmental scan; SWOT

Organizational Analysis of the United Nations University Collections

UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY COLLECTION

Part One: Mission, Vision & Value Statements, Environmental Scan, and SWOT Analysis

The United Nations University (UNU) is an international university that serves as the
research and academic hub for the United Nations. Founded in 1975, the University focuses on
five scholarly pursuits: Peace, Security and Human Rights; Development Governance;
Population and Health; Global Change and Sustainable Development; and Science, Technology
and Society. Research and writings about these topics are stored in the United Nations Library,
and digital access is provided through the United Nations University Collection, which was
established in 2014. With technology changing rapidly and academics continuing to submit
research, the UNU will be faced with the challenge of providing accessibility to an everchanging amount of research. A comprehensive environmental scan of the University and the
Collection along with an analysis of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are
discussed in an attempt to provide a complete overview of the organization with the hope that it
will produce a thorough strategic plan and goals.

Literature Review
Planning for Access
The United Nations University (UNU), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan houses, arguably,
the most influential research for social change in the world. One of the original goals of the
UNU, discussed in 1975 was to become a vehicle for world education and to foster global
consciousness (Gilbert, Cox).
How then, do research institutions plan for global accessibility on a scale that reaches
humanity? A review of the literature finds that first, they digitize the collection (Bruns, Knight-

Davis, Corrigan, E & Brantley). Then, they tag the research with controlled vocabulary (Laursen,
Christiansen, & Olsen). Further, they ensure that the collection is available to the masses which
means that webmasters not only need to follow design principles and industry guidelines; they
must also follow federal suggestions that increase accessibility to disabled users (Cervone, 2013,
Hudson, 2002).
Foundational literature on accessibility varies for each subtype of access. For example,
disabled access is largely governed by legislation such as the American Disabilities Act (1990)
and the Childrens Internet Protection Act (CIPA). Internet accessibility is commonly guided by
the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) (Bakar,World Wide Web Consortium).
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines provide a framework of standards for unifying
accessibility of websites globally. The referenceable, technical standards address code, HTML
markup, structure, presentation, design, text, images and sounds (World Wide Web Consortium).
The WCAG describe four principles of accessibility: perceivable, operable, understandable and
robust.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against disabled
persons in arenas of transportation, employment, and communications; it includes suggestions
for providing telecommunications relay services, and governmental activities (United States
Department of Labor). It was signed into law in 1990. Five agencies enforce the ADA: The
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Department of Labor, Department of
Transportation, Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the Department of Justice;
which governs public accommodations as well as state and local government services (United
States Department of Labor).

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Though the law does not specify who is disabled, Section 12102: Definitions, suggests
that an impairment, physical or mental, that limits at least one major life activity e.g. seeing,
hearing, eating, sleeping, walking, standing, lifting, bending, speaking, breathing, learning,
reading, concentrating, thinking, communicating, and working (United States Department of
Labor) qualifies a person as disabled under the law. Additionally, major life activities means
bodily functions, normal cell growth, normal immune system, digestive; bowel and urinary
functions, neurological, respiratory, endocrine, circulatory and reproductive functions. (United
States Department of Labor).
While the ADA seeks to expand access, Congress enacted The Child Internet Protection
Act (CIPA) in 2000 to limit obscene, pornographic and harmful Internet content from reaching
children. Because the act could be construed as an offense against the First Amendment right to
free speech, only institutions that accept E-rate Program discounts; generally public schools and
libraries, are required to comply (Federal Communications Commission).
The literature agrees on the importance of digitization, design, and compliance with guidelines
and legislation. Scholars differ in their process and severity of compliance. For example,
institutions whose goals are to reach humanity may pursue accessibility goals differently than
neighborhood libraries.
First; the Decision to Digitize
Behind the Scenes: Improving Online Access to UNU Research (Argetsinger) describes
the process of unifying and broadening access to the collection. During the first half of 2012, a
selection of staff from the UNU Library, Office of the Rector, and Office of Communications
met to assess the collection from the users perspective. They affirmed the end-user experience
as confusing and difficult (Argetsinger). UNU publications were spread over many separate

websites hosted by different partner institutions, with unreliable access. Next, the team planned
deeper assessments. The assessment team decided that accessibility was so poor as to threaten
compliance with aspects of the Universitys Charter: ...increase the dynamic interaction in the
world community of learning and research (Argetsinger). Ultimately, the UNU Press ended
publication operations in January 2014; transferring all volumes to the UNU Collection (online)
throughout 2014 and 2015 in an effort to make the works of the UNU accessible to the widest
possible community (UNU Press). Moving access from print to digital removed barriers and
costs.
Eastern Illinois University (EIU) was faced with a similar situation; they housed a
repository of work that was not accessible to the community until a multidisciplinary team led by
Dean of Library Services: Dr. Allan Lanham, spent nine years planning and two years digitizing
objects, art, text and photographs to bring more accessibility to the students and community
(Bruns, Knight-Davis, Corrigan, E & Brantley). The nearly decade-long process yielded many
lessons about planning and administrating for accessibility.
First, an unfilled circulation position was repurposed as the Booth Archive Librarian (24
hours per week) and the Booth Library Scanning Center was created and outfitted with bed-style
scanners and processing equipment. Recent reductions of serials subscriptions and FTE civil
service positions provided flexibility in the budget, and space and staff to support the scanning
center (Bruns, Knight-Davis, Corrigan, E & Brantley). The author credits collegial relationships
between departments for the smooth transitions and efficient use of the scanning center.
Then, Booth Library and Berkley Digital Publishing formed a partnership around the task
of designing the archive. Berkley Digital Publishing (now called bepress) provides academia
with platforms to showcase their work (bepress). A faculty member designed a controlled

UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY COLLECTION

vocabulary for use on the platform. Then, as the project became successful, other funding
streams and projects attached to the Booth Archive. The Illinois State Library provided a grant in
conjunction with the federal Library Services and Technology Act, to digitize volumes of the
EIU yearbook. Those files were added to the Illinois Digital Archive. The Booth Library
expanded the project still further by creating the Consortium of Academic and Research
Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). This step required a re-work of the metadata to improve harvestability (Bruns,Knight-Davis,Corrigan & Brantley p 249). Now, because objects are located in
special collections, cited as references in searchable theses, part of a statewide consortium and
connected to the state library system, patrons are discovering the collection through several
means (Bruns, Knight-Davis, Corrigan, E & Brantley).
The rise of opencourseware and fully online education programs in the late 1990s
expanded more than access to collections; it extended education beyond physical facilities and
offered free digital education products to the public as a way to widen access to information and
encourage wider participation (Barrett et al.). The UNU Institute of Advanced Studies set up
programs to increase capacity in 1996. In 2008, the UNU opened an opencourseware (OCW)
portal (Barrett et al.).
The three sample programs did not discuss the reduced cost to users although the UNU
Press did mention that it charges for print volumes (plus shipping and the inconvenience of
waiting); however, they did not list consumer cost as an access issue. The UNU Institute of
Advanced Studies digitized courses and offered them to the public for free, but did not list
education costs as a barrier to access. The EIU did not have any access much less free access to
many of the archived items. The cost of other items was time; visiting the repository with
approved staff. Other unreported benefits might include access to historical items that previously

could not be handled and the reallocation of budgets from paper printing, museum-type facilities
and curators salaries to improved accessibility.
Planning Metadata for Greater Access
Most older adults know metadata better than they think: Metadata is card catalogs and the
Dewey Decimal System- in short; metadata is a system for managing and retrieving archived
information (Christiansen, Laursen & Olsen). Management of Metadata for Digital Heritage
Collections (Christiansen, Laursen & Olsen) suggests a flow structure for managing metadata for
the greatest accessibility throughout the stages of development and access. The authors
recommend: identify, analyze and select metadata sources; then, design, implement and
document the metadata model. The intention of this structure is to organize the metadata at each
step of the collection-building process because good design leads to greater accessibility
(Christiansen, Laursen & Olsen).
In addition to well-organized metadata, a controlled vocabulary is one of the most
important concepts regarding database accessibility. Chowdhury (2010) states, In order to
match the contents of the user requirements (the search terms) with the contents of the stored
documents (the document records), one must follow a vocabulary that is common to both. This
idea leads to the concept of controlled or standardized vocabulary (p. 155). Similar to metadata
stages, there are two stages for vocabulary control: conceptual analysis and translation
(Chowdhury, 2010, p. 155). Utilizing a standardized or controlled vocabulary supports greater
accessibility to metadata.
The success of an organizations metadata model and flow structure can be measured. For
example, Ahmad Bakars 2012 study of 10 public and 10 private universities websites finds that
large public universities have better accessibility and visibility than do private universities. His

UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY COLLECTION

criteria for determining accessibility stem from EvalAccess 2.0; free internet software that
checks the HTML mark-up on the site for errors, and Alexa, free online software that measures
website traffic. The results show that large, public universities have better accessibility (Bakar).
He hypothesizes that increasing access helps communicate the institutions merits to a wide
audience of potential students, world-class faculty, corporations, researchers and others (Bakar).
The results show that large universities design their metadata more successfully than some
smaller institutions.
Planning for Disabled Access
According to a 2010 US Census Bureau Report, 54 million Americans; 19%, have a
disability (https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/miscellaneous/cb12-134.html
(Links to an external site.)). Collection managers must plan access for disabled patrons. In 2010
the National Federation of the Blind won a lawsuit against Pennsylvania State University due to
its lack of digital access for the blind (http://accessibility.psu.edu/nfbpsusettlement (Links to an
external site.)). In 2012 two blind University of Florida students won a $150,000 settlement over
inaccessible e-courses (http://blog.lib.umn.edu/itsshelp/news/2013/10/higher-ed-accessibilitylawsuits.html (Links to an external site.)). When designing digital library products, Cervone
(2013) cautions librarians to address all categories of disability: Visual (including colorblindness), motor, auditory, physical, and cognitive.

Visual- While this can mean investing in screen readers, solutions can be as inexpensive
as training library staff to change browser settings to ignore certain fonts and colors.
Ensure that magnification does not affect the integrity of your digital products (Cervone).
Librarians can test the accessibility of their images at http://colororacle.org (Links to an

external site.). Do not use frames, Maintain high contrast, and do not use colors to guide
users (Hudson).

Auditory- Supplement sound and video with captions and transcripts. Train library staff
to suspend pop-ups and pause scrolling information (Cervone). Use text-based web
pages. Avoid streaming audio or video. Interactive audio applications should not be used
(Hudson).

Motor- Cervone (2013) recommends using access keys, or key equivalents to assist
patrons with repetitive stress injuries. Hudson (2002) suggests offering devices that
simulate mouse clicks by blowing into a straw-like apparatus in conjunction with
software that tracks eye movements. Other aids translate speech into basic commands the
computer can obey.

Cognitive- Use graphics to illustrate headlines. Include supplemental audio and the
ability to freeze animations to allow for more processing time. Make the digital products
consistent across pages and allow broad scope for search terms. Cervone (2012) suggests
using www.eastendliteracy.on.ca/clearlanguageanddesign/readingeffectivenesstool to
analyze the reading level of your sites text. A ninth grade reading level is the industry
standard for accessibility.

Seizures- Images and text should not flicker.

Section 508 guidelines, added to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 in 1998, articulate the

special accommodations that federal agencies must make for disabled persons. The guidelines
scope is limited to information technology that is accessed by people who use the web or own
software, hardware and telecommunications devices (Hudson). The goal is to improve digital
access to websites. The guidelines apply to people with visual, audio, mobility or cognitive

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11

disabilities and includes people who are prone to seizures. The author suggests adjusting the
most used web pages right away; within three-months of adopting the guidelines as goals. Any
new pages should comply. Then, adjust two pages per month until your digital product is fully
compliant (Hudson).
Training is as important as investing in tools. Many free tools are available online. The
litigation related to digital library access has given rise to thorough accessibility studies. For
example: http://accessibility.psu.edu/nfbpsusettlement; the guidelines produced by Penn State as
part of their settlement with the National Federation of the Blind.
Analysis, Results and Conclusions
Our team used Bakars method to understand how the UNU Collection could increase its
accessibility. An Alexa test of the United Nations University Collection website (hereafter, the
Collection) revealed its traffic ranking: 100,518 in the United States and 103,737 globally. At the
time of this writing, the global ranking is up 3,933. The rankings are based on daily traffic over
the previous 3-month period; updated daily. Visitors view an average of 2.5 pages for an average
of 2 minutes and 16 seconds. The audience views the UNU Collection from home and work but
curiously, not from school. If students are using personal laptop computers to access the
Collection, Alexa might be recording those visits as home views. The Audience hails from the
United States: 14.4 %, India; 9.3%, Nigeria; 6.3%, Germany; 5.5%, and Indonesia; 2.2%. The
education level of the audience is overwhelmingly graduate-level, but other demographic groups
are also present.
EvalAccess provided a detailed accessibility report for the UNU Collection. It found 1
priority one error, 3 priority two errors and many warnings. The priority one error shows the
HTML mark-up needs to include text equivalents for every non-text symbol, graphics,

 image map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and programmatic objects,
ascii art, frames, scripts, images used as list bullets, spacers, graphical buttons, sounds (played
with or without user interaction), stand-alone audio files, audio tracks of video, and video.
(EvalAccess, 2014). The level two errors address applets and scripts for multiple devices,
informing the user of pop-ups and associating labels with controls more explicitly.
The EvalAccess report provides the Collections webmaster with specific
recommendations to increase accessibility by polishing the HTML mark-up. It provides Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines and the HTML solutions at
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#gl-interim-accessibility. The Alexa demographic report on
UNU Collection viewers reveals that readers may be limited by language because, of the five top
viewing nations, all five have a significant population of English speakers. The UNU Collections
home page (below) does not include a translation tool or offer versions in other languages.
Therefore, this team recommends a Mandarin Chinese version, a translation tool, and adding
greetings in several languages to the home page. The Alexa report on audience education noted
wide use by graduates, but the subject matter would apply to high school students through
mature audiences. Therefore, this team recommends building relationships with high school,
University and public libraries to increase visibility.
Simple design improves accessibility for Disabled users. Presentation should increase
usability, not confuse, limit or clutter an already information-rich environment (Cervone). While
compliance with Section 508 Guidelines is not mandatory for non-federal agencies, it is required
if your organization receives federal and sometimes state funding. Therefore, voluntary
compliance, or even setting the goal to comply in the future, protects your organization from
litigation and communicates willingness to serve all patrons (Cervone and Hudson).

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Mission Statement
The United Nations University Collections aims to share publications by UNU scholars,
students, and external collaborators that support themes of peace, security and human rights by
adapting technology to make resources accessible, allowing UNU Collections to support the
growth of society through global change. By use of a single location, the mission of the United
Nations University can distribute information that can help resolve issues of human survival. It
allows the United Nations University Collections repository to be a direct engagement with ideas
and information from UNU students and academics, external researchers and collaborators, the
UN system, and the general public. Furthermore, to document research that applies to global
issues as an intellectual and functional aid for policy practice and research methodology.
Vision Statement
The vision of the United Nations University Collections is to create user-friendly access
to UNU publications allowing it to have presence in the increasingly web-dominated
communication infrastructure. By preventing information to be weighed down by traditional
process of publication, it allows UNU ideas and solutions to be exported to the global think tank
to be reviewed, deconstructed, shared, and debated. This expansion of internet-based
communications technology renews presentation and dissemination of the holdings of UNU
academic and teaching pedagogy.

Value Statement
United Nations University, including Collections, is under the umbrella of the United
Nations, and is diligent to the manifestation of values that aid in resolving global issues.

Access: By making information accessible through publication, it keeps global citizens

well informed through searchable UNU Collections.

Research: Research helps to aid in collecting and organizing information about events
and gives foundation to finding critical steps to solutions under the watch of the United
Nations.

Innovation: The United Nations University is a non-traditional academia environment

that applies itself as a think-tank; it leads the practice of innovative technology.

Global Guardianship: This harnessing of information from books, journal articles,

conferences and briefs, becomes ideas distributed by technology that will aid in the work
of the United Nations to focus on world peace and policy.

Environmental Scan
History and Demographics
In 1973 the United Nations established the United Nations University to serve as their
academic and research branch. It was the brainchild of UN Secretary-General U Thant who (in
1969) described it as the United Nations University, truly international in character and devoted
to the Charter objectives of peace and progress (History and Background n.d.). After
feasibility studies and months of research, the UN General Assembly approved the decision to
establish the United Nations University, making it the worlds first international university. The
charter and resolution were approved at the General Assembly meeting of the United Nations in
December 1973.
The Government of Japan offered to provide headquarters facilities in Tokyo and
contributed $100 million (US dollars) to the establishment of an endowment fund. The first

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15

academic work began in 1975, and with this came the library, which includes the United Nations
University Collections.
The library of the UNU (Collections) is available to assist in the achievement of the
overall objectives of UNU. And is committed to providing reliable and high quality library and
information services to assist and enhance the activities of the university (Library, n.d.).
The librarys holdings are materials related to the themes of the United Nations
University. Patrons of this library (persons physically able to visit the UNU building in Tokyo)
are limited in number, as admission to the library is generally restricted to persons from the UNU
community, along with university students from four reciprocal collaboration institutions. All
other persons wishing to have access to the library must make an appointment in advance.
Students from non-reciprocal collaboration institutions need a reference letter from their own
schools library. Additionally, in 2012 the total number of persons that attended UNU
postgraduate programs was 54. Physical access is further restricted by the hours the library is
open, 10 AM to 1 PM and 2 PM until 5:30 PM on weekdays, 32.5 total per week. Not including
holiday closures.
The library catalog is publically accessible online and contains 1,811 records (at the time
of this writing.) The UNU Librarys Electronic Resources include: Bibliographies, Citation
Analysis & Citations, E-Journals, Library Catalogues, International Relations Resources,
Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and the UN System. Some of which limit access to only UNU
community members.
The UNUs online publications repository, the UNU Collections, was officially launched
in 2014 as a way of broadening the access to UNU research (Artsinger, 2014).
Funding

UNU receives no funds from the regular United Nations budget; it is financed
entirely by investment income derived from its endowment fund along with some support
from individuals and organizations. In addition, the library has partnerships with the
Eisaku Sato Memorial Foundation for Cooperation with UNU which contributes the
Scholarly Books Fund to the United Nations University Library, and the Japan Foundation
for UNU, which supports the UNU Library book procurement fund.
Political Changes
Though politically neutral, as it is an information repository, the library is not immune
from the issues affecting the broader UNU organization.
Technological Developments
The 2014 addition of an online UNU Collection was a significant technological
advancement for the UNU. In 2012 project meetings began to decide how publications could be
stored online topics for review included databases, classification schemes and the scope of
bibliographical metadata. At the Universitys biannual Conference of Directors meeting a paper
was presented from the Tokyo team in charge of research pertaining to what would become the
Collections. They proposed building a coalition of collaborators from across the Universitys
institutes. Much time and effort had to be placed into organizing the information and research
into common groups and themes (Artsinger, 2014). The end result is an online databases
searchable by anyone with an interest, almost all of the documents are available through PDF
download and the entire website is free.

Swot Analysis
Strengths

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The United Nations University Collection has several strengths, the primary being its
association with a huge, multinational organization, the United Nations University, henceforth
referred to as the UNU. The mission of the UNU is to contribute, through collaborative research
and education, to efforts to resolve the pressing global problems of human survival, development
and welfare that are the concern of the United Nations, its Peoples and Member States.
Although the subject of this analysis is the UNU Collection (library), the library would cease to
exist without the UNU since its primary function is to serve as a research and aide to people
studying or working at the UNU.
The UNU Collection houses materials by UNU Scholars, students and external
collaborators and is comprised of books, chapters, journals, papers, briefs and conference
publications (Frequently Asked Questions, n.d.). The mission of the UNU Collection is to
make the academic work of students, researchers and staff available to the general public. The
information is accessed through the use of their website. Another asset of the Collection and a
major benefit for the authors of UNU Collection materials is that their work is published by a
premier organization and made accessible to other academic researchers at UNU, external
researchers, and the general public.
According to the UNU Charter, although the university is headquartered in Tokyo, it
exists wherever its activities are conducted, and according to Newland (1987), the UNU
fosters the exchange of research results among investigators who are working on the same
problem in different geographical and cultural settings (216). In doing this they alleviate
intellectual isolation, particularly of scholars in developing countries. Collegial exchange among
the members of the various UNU networks is a major vehicle for achieving this (Newland,
1987, p. 216). The UNU Collection supports these efforts by providing an almost entirely digital

collection. The UNU Collection works with the university to serve as a repository for the
academic publications, reports and other research of the UNU (About UNU Collections, n.d.),
which in accordance with the UNU Charter, features work in the following five broad areas of
study: peace, security and human rights; population and health; science, technology and society;
global change and sustainable development; and development governance.
Depending on how you view it, financial matters can be both a strength and a weakness
for the UNU and the UNU Collection. The United Nations University is privately funded by
contributions obtained from governments (either through the United Nations or to the UNU) and
independent organizations such as foundations or universities and individual contributors. While
no funds are received directly from the United Nations, the United Nations is still an essential
part of the UNU financial team. Funds received for the University are held in an account via the
United Nations, as outlined in the UNU Charter and in accordance with the Financial
Regulations of the United Nations. A representative of the United Nations (Secretary-General) is
the chief officer in charge of all financial and accounting plans and functions for the University;
except the planning of budgets which falls to the Rector (with approval from an advisory
committee). The Collection (Library) is mainly supported by two financial partners, the Eisaku
Sato Memorial Foundation for cooperation with the UNU, and the Japan Foundation for UNU.
Both of these partners have Financial Committees and Advisory Councils in place to review
funds, as well as marketing teams and additional support to raise money for the UNU Collection.
Due to the generosity of these financial supporters, the UNU Collection is offered at no
cost to users and researchers. The UNU Collection provides online access to these publications.
Since the UNU closed UNU Publications in 2014, the UNU Collection set out to digitize the
entire collection. This effort, combined with works already available provides thousands of

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19

online documents that are easily searched through a single website, making research easier and
more efficient.
Weaknesses
While being privately funded is an advantage in some cases, it can also be viewed as a
weakness. The Rector, three Vice Rectors and the UNU Council govern the UNU. The Council is
responsible for (among other things) approving the budget. This means, although the funds are
coming from supporting organizations, the allocation or misallocation stems from the UNU
itself. Also, despite the fact that the UNU receives no financial support from the United Nations,
the UNU Council reports annually to the UN General Assembly, the UN Economic and Social
Council and the Executive Board of UNESCO.
In an article published in the New York Times in 1992, Steven Brull examined the
spending patterns of the UNU and found some troubling irregularities. At that time, the financial
situation of the UNU was strained due to the opening of a $100 million building. Though the
Japanese government paid for the building, the UNU was responsible for maintaining and
furnishing it, which at the time of the publishing was mostly empty (it is built to house 500, at
the time of the articles publishing it held 63 staff and 20 security guards).
Though the building was not paid for by the UNU, Brull argued that perhaps the money
used to build the structure could have been used to pay off United Nations debts from expected
donations that were never received. This conflicting view supports one of the main weaknesses
of the UNU should they be subjected to criticisms about United Nations spending although
they are not supported financially by the United Nations?
Although several UNU officials wrote letters to the New York Times in response to the
allegations made by the article, claiming that no such financial discrepancies were taking place,

one former staff member wrote in to tell accounts of UNU professors and staff flying first class
around the world, lavish dinner parties with mass amounts of food waste and a general desire to
keep all whistle-blowing under wraps. Regardless of what view one takes on the UNUs
spending habits, it is easy to make the case that being supported in any way from outside sources
puts an organization under the scrutiny of the public eye.
Other budgetary restraint stems from the fact that many Japanese scholars have
historically kept their distance from the UNU for several reasons, one of the most significant
being allegations that the UNU does not distinguish itself academically.
Another weakness, more specific to the UNU Collection is a lack of website traffic. An
Alexa test of the website revealed their traffic ranking to be 100,518 in the USA and 103,737
globally. These rankings are based on daily traffic over the last three months. Visitors to the
Collection website only view 2.5 pages worth of information and stay an average of 2 minutes
and 16 seconds either theyre not finding what theyre looking for due to poor search results, or
the website is so outstanding that theyre finding what they need and leaving within minutes. Its
hard to tell which.
Another weakness revealed during the Alexa test is that the majority of users come from
English speaking countries or countries with large English speaking populations. The website
itself is written mainly in English and features no translation tools on the homepage, in a sense
they are alienating all non-English speaking researchers.
Opportunities
In an effort to turn weaknesses into strengths, changes and additions to the UNU
Collection website would be an opportunity for additional growth. Gaining more website traffic
could propel the UNU Collection to the top of the list in terms of research based websites. The

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21

sheer amount of information available should draw traffic, but it does not. Making the website
user friendly, specifically catering to the non-English speaking users. Displaying a welcome from
the university or the collection in several languages would be a start. Perhaps the addition of
translation tools or software would aid users in finding and using the research so carefully
compiled on the website.
The UNU, and the Collection, should allocate some of their budget towards marketing
efforts. Teaming up with other libraries (schools, universities, public organizations) and linking
to each others websites would greatly increase website traffic and promote the UNU Collection
as one of the premier search databases. Im sure the authors of the information housed in the
collection would be appreciative of their work being used by additional researchers. Most
everything in the UNU Collection is digital, opportunities to share that information should be
countless.
In addition, the UNU needs to make an effort to connect to more users through social
media - the Facebook page is entirely in Japanese which would deter some would be students
from trying to find additional information. While they are known as a premier research
organization, they still need to connect to the masses and garner more interest in the University,
which will in turn, create more information and researchers for the Collection.
Threats
One of the biggest threats to the University is their funding. Regardless of how they
spend the money allotted to them, someone will find issue with it. Being joined to the United
Nations will always place them under the public eye. The UNU should always be prepared to
provide facts and figures about how the money endowed to them was allocated.

Another threat to the University and the Collection both, is fact that theyre privately
funded. Should any of the organizations supporting them decide to spend their money elsewhere,
or go out of business, the UNU would potentially be faced with massive cuts and budgetary
restrictions. Along those same lines, since the Collection functions to support the University, they
do not have the means or capabilities to function as their own self-sustaining organization.
Theyre entirely dependent on outside funding and support from the University.

Conclusion
The United Nations University is a compelling force in the realm of research and
academia. The addition of the UNU Collection will provide access to users across the globe who
have a desire to research any of the five themes from the UNU. This analysis provides the basics
for the strategic goals and assessment criteria that will be included in Part Two of our analysis of
the United Nations University and the UNU Collection. In addition we will provide an Annotated
Bibliography highlighting efforts in digitalization and accessibility.

References
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UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY COLLECTION

23

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