The document symbols are informative beyond the organization designation. Following are a few examples. A more complete description can be found in the United Nations Documentation: Research Guide.
It is important to distinguish between committees and commissions. -/CN stands for a Commission and -/C stands for Committee. There can be a committee and a commission on the same subject. For example, there is a UN Human Rights Committee (document symbol CCPR/C/) and a UN Commission for Human Rights (document symbol E/CN.4/).
Meeting records are important and are a good source for speeches. Meeting records are generally designated with two symbols, -/PV and -/SR. -/PV stands for verbatim records of meetings in the first person (i.e., proces-verbaux), and they are generally only issued for the main organ meetings. -/SR stands for summary records of meetings (abbreviated meeting records in the third person). Providing summary records is the more common (and less expensive) way of reporting meeting events.
Some documents, like those with the symbols -/L and -/R, are not meant for the public. -/L stands for limited distribution (generally draft documents). These documents are not part of the depository. They may appear on theOfficial Document System(ODS) since 1992 (for more information on the ODS, see below). -/R stands for restricted distribution, which means restricted access. These documents can sometimes be viewed at the UN, but not copied.
Changes in documents are indicated by -/Add, signifying an addendum or addition. On the other hand, -/Rev. signifies a revision, completely replacing texts previously issued.