In the late 1800's, Dutch physician and feminist Aletta Jacobs and her husband C.V. Gerritsen began collecting books, pamphlets and periodicals reflecting the revolution of a feminist consciousness and the movement for women's rights. By the time their successors finished their work in 1945, the Gerritsen Collection was the greatest single source for the study of women's history in the world, with materials spanning four centuries and 15 languages. The Gerritsen curators gathered more than 4,700 publications from continental Europe, the U.S., the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand, dating from 1543-1945. The anti-feminist case is presented as well as the pro-feminist; many other titles present a purely objective record of the condition of women at a given time.

The United Nations iLibrary holds more than 3,500 publications in all official languages of the United Nations: English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese and Arabic as well as bi-lingual and tri-lingual publications. These publications have been authored by the United Nations departments such as DESA, OHCHR and DPI, and agencies, funds and programs such as UNDP, ECLAC and UNFPA.