Research Animal Welfare Resource Guide
Overview
The regulations of the US Animal Welfare Act (AWA), specifically the 1985 Amendment, require that investigators provide Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) with documentation demonstrating that alternatives to procedures that may cause more than momentary pain or distress to the animals have been considered and that activities do not unnecessarily duplicate previous experiments. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Animal Care Policy #12, "a comprehensive search is an effective and efficient method for demonstrating compliance with the requirement to consider alternatives to painful/distressful procedures." The VCU IACUC provides oversight to the VCU research community to ensure these requirements are met.
VCU Libraries provides services and resources that can assist investigators in meeting this requirement. Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences offers a broad range of reference services for VCU investigators such as individual consultations by appointment to assist in the development of search strategies and the selection of appropriate databases. A fee-based literature search service is also available to VCU students, faculty, and staff.
The Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC), part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Library, also provides Database Searching and Referral services and useful resources such as a Worksheet and Instructions for Alternatives Literature Searching. “As part of AWIC's Congressional mandate, the Center provides literature searching assistance to the regulated community. AWIC information specialists will perform literature searches for patrons on a cost recovery basis.”
Guide for the care and use of laboratory animals [electronic resource] / Institute of Laboratory Animals Resources, Commission on Life Sciences, National Research Council. Washington, D.C. : National Academy Press, 1996.
The principles of humane experimental technique [electronic resource] / W.M.S. Russell and R.L. Burch. [Baltimore, Md.] : Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, 2005, c1992.
AGRICOLA (AGRICultural OnLine Access) VCU
Coverage: 1979 – present
Options for accessing the National Agricultural Library’s comprehensive collection of resources covering all aspects of agricultural sciences, botany, ecology and animal welfare.
Aquatic Sciences Databases from CSA Internet Database Service VCU
(1978 – present)
Includes multiple databases in the CSA Subject Area, including: Aqualine; ASFA: Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts; Conference Papers Index; Oceanic Abstracts; and Water Resources Abstracts.
BIOETHICS - See PubMed/Medline
The National Library of Medicine (NLM) provides access to the published literature on the ethical, legal and public policy issues surrounding health care and biomedical research. This information is provided in conjunction with the Kennedy Institute of Ethics located at Georgetown University, Washington, DC.
BIOSIS Previews VCU
Coverage: (1969 - present)
Major database for biology includes Biological Abstracts (1969 to present), Biological Abstracts/RRM (1980 to present) and BioResearch Index (1969 to 1979).Almost 5,500 journals in the subject areas of zoology, ecology, botany, microbiology, agriculture, pharmacology, medicine, biochemistry, biophysics, bioengineering and biotechnology are covered by BIOSIS.
Compendex VCU
Coverage: (1970 - present)
Comprehensive bibliographic database of engineering research literature; part of Engineering Village.
Computer Database VCU
Coverage: (1980 - present)
Use this Gale Group database to find computer-related product introductions, news and reviews in areas such as hardware, software, electronics, engineering, communications and the application of technology.
Congressional Information Service -- Search LexisNexis Congressional for comprehensive US legislative information from Congressional Information Service (CIS). Varying dates of coverage. CIS Index covers 1970-present.
CRIS: Current Research Information System
CRIS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's documentation and reporting system for ongoing and recently completed research and education projects in agriculture, food and nutrition, and forestry.
CRISP: Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects
CRISP is a searchable database of federally funded biomedical research projects conducted at universities, hospitals, and other research institutions.
ERIC - ERIC Index to Education Materials VCU
Coverage: (1966 – present)
See VCU Libraries’ options for accessing ERIC documents and journal articles in education. ERIC contains more than 2,200 digests along with references for additional information and citations and abstracts from over 1,000 educational and education-related journals.
Gale Group Computer Database – See Computer Database.
IPA: International Pharmaceutical Abstracts VCU
(1970 - present)
Abstracts of pharmacology research and information. Produced by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).
LexisNexis Academic VCU
This flagship service provides full-text documents from over 5,900 news, business, legal, medical, and reference publications with a variety of flexible search options. See also: LexisNexis Congressional (1970 – present); LexisNexis Government Periodicals Index (1988 – present); and LexisNexis Statistical (1973 – present).
MEDLINE® - See PubMed/MEDLINE
NTIS Bibliographic Database VCU
Coverage: (1964 - present)
Abstracts of the latest research sponsored by the United States and select foreign governments. In addition to other classifications, searches can be done by corporate source, patent number and CAS registry number. Part of Engineering Village.
PsycINFO (Psychological Abstracts) VCU
Coverage: (1887 - present)
APA database of abstracts for psychological literature. Includes journals, dissertations, reports, book chapters, and other scholarly documents. Limited coverage from 1887 - 1926.
PubMed/MEDLINE
The primary database of information in biomedical and health sciences fields. This National Library of Medicine search service provides access to over 15 million citations in MEDLINE®, PreMEDLINE®, and other related databases. To find Bioethics content, Search PubMed/MEDLINE for journal articles, court decisions, bills, laws, and news articles and limit search to the bioethics subset.
Science Citation Index VCU
Coverage: (1965 - present)
Database of references cited in articles from more than 5,900 major journals across 150 scientific disciplines. Part of Web of Science.
ScienceDirect VCU
Portal to more than 1800 peer-reviewed journals published by Elsevier in science, technology / engineering, and medicine. Includes Scirus, a comprehensive search engine that searches over 300 million science-specific Web pages to pinpoint scientific, scholarly, technical and medical data.
THOMAS
In the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, the Library of Congress THOMAS database makes federal legislative information freely available to the public.
TOXLINE VCU
Coverage: (1994 - present)
Abstracts of the literature in all areas of toxicology including chemicals and pharmaceuticals, pesticides, environmental pollutants, and mutagens and teratogens; (does not include information from Chemical Abstracts Service, BIOSIS, or IPA).
ToxNet
Integrated system of free Web toxicology and environmental health databases. Includes HSDB, TOXLINE, ChemIDplus, IRIS, TRI, CCRIS, GENETOX, TOXMAP, and DART/ETIC.
Web of Science VCU
Coverage: (1965 - present)
Citation databases including Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index, and Social Sciences Citation Index for searches by cited reference, topic, and author.
AWIC: Animal Welfare Information Center
The National Agricultural Library’s Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) regularly updates its Web site with links to its newest publications, database updates, published reports, and topical animal welfare news from various sources. The Web site also includes information about workshops and many other services.
Altweb: Alternatives to Animal Testing
Altweb was created to serve as a gateway to alternatives news, information, and resources on the Internet and beyond. Altweb contains a wealth of resources for researchers and technicians such as “A step-by-step approach to an alternatives search”
AVAR: Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights
The Association of Veterinarians for Animal Rights actively works toward the acquisition of rights for all nonhuman animals by educating the public and the veterinary profession about a variety of issues concerning nonhuman animal use.
Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR)
The Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) prepares authoritative reports on subjects of importance to the animal care and use community; develops and makes available scientific and technical information on laboratory animals and other biological research resources.
Japan Science and Technology Information Aggregator, Electronic (J-STAGE)
The objective of J-STAGE is to strive for acceleration and internationalization of science and technology information transmission and circulation by building on the Internet a uniform flow - from the submission to release of science and technology information.
Norwegian Reference Centre for Laboratory Animal Science & Alternatives
The Laboratory Animal Unit at The Norwegian School of Veterinary Science plays a central role in the education of those who work with experimental animals. The Unit's primary aim is to ensure that the three R's are followed in practice.
State Statutes
State Statutes Web site was developed and is maintained by the Legal Information Institute (LII), a research and electronic publishing activity of the Cornell Law School. State Statutes contains links to federal and state constitutions, statutes, and codes.