November 13th, 2009 by Mary Wood
Searching for the intersection of two very different subjects, the crossover where the topics meet, requires looking for the information in a variety of sources. The subject of animal alternatives is truly multi-disciplinary and requires multiple sources to answer a range of questions. A research topic may demand, for example, searching in: the PubMed database for the most recent and authoritative literature published in human medical research and education; the CAB database for the latest veterinary and animal science related articles; PsycInfo in order to consider potential stresses related to the study; and, depending on the question be asked, cancer-specific resources like NCI, mouse-specific resources like JAX, or a teaching alternatives database like NORINA. Essentially, the source, or the database, is determined by the question being asked.
The relationship between animals and humans is complex; the ethics of animal use in research is widely discussed, opinion and belief influenced by any number of factors, including culture and religion.
Searching for “religion AND animal experimentation” in PubMed will look for that topic in the medical literature; other possibilities include “ethics AND animal experimentation” and “vaccine AND religion”. Adding or using more specific search terms will narrow the results.
CAB indexes international agricultural research publications; searching for “animal welfare AND religion” and “animals AND religion AND ethics” will identify articles on this topic in journals not indexed in the human clinical database PubMed.
The Religious Studies subject guide lists many possible databases, resources that index research in different publications and from an entirely different perspective. For example, searching for “animal experimentation” in ATLA Religion database, or “vaccination OR vaccine” identify focused sets of relevant citations. In Philosopher’s Index, using “ethics” and “experimentation” and “animal” as search terms retrieves a select list of citations.
Other databases may be relevant (like PsycInfo, “animals” and “religion”), depending on the question. As always, please do not hesitate to come to the libraries or to contact a librarian for reference help.
Mary Wood, mwwood@ucdavis.edu
Tags: animal alternatives, animal experimentation, databases, pubmed, research, searching
Posted in Animal Welfare, CAB, Library Databases, pubmed | No Comments Yet »
October 28th, 2009 by Mary Wood
Working on a website for a presentation to VMD400B acted as a reminder of how too few of us in veterinary medicine and animal science make use of valuable and effective databases beyond PubMed. The following chart compares six potentially useful databases on just a few points, but emphasizes the wealth of information to be found in CAB and BIOSIS. There are more than just these six databases to consider: list of Health Sciences databases; lists of databases by subject.
Many databases are proprietary, made available to UC Davis affiliates by UC Davis Library subscription. Free resources that will remain available even after graduation include Agricola and GoogleScholar. (Clicking on the graph will link to a larger image).
About the image:
The original graph was edited using the Picnik editor that is embedded into the free Flickr photo hosting site.
Tags: databases, searching, Veterinary Medicine
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September 23rd, 2009 by Mary Wood
The congress, held in August in Rome, was given the motto “Calling on Science” in order to emphasize that scientific progress today goes hand in hand with progress towards the reduction, refinement and replacement of experimental animals (the 3Rs).
The program was developed around specific day themes:
Day 1: Innovative technologies, concepts, and approaches
Day 2: Areas of animal use
Day 3: Progress in life science domains
2009 7th World Congress on Alternatives
Of particular interest was the Databases Progress Report session on Day 1. The overview was given by Mary Wood, who was invited to speak on the “Wealth and diversity of the 3Rs online”.
The program [pdf 10mb] and abstracts are available online.
Tags: Animal Welfare, databases, literature review, searching
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June 30th, 2009 by Bernadette Swanson
If you are beginning or in the midst of a literature review for a grant application, help is here. Contact Librarian/Animal Alternatives Specialist, Mary Wood, for assistance identifying appropriate databases and resources for conducting a comprehensive search in your specific subject area.
Mary Wood, MLIS tel: 530-754-9122 email: mwwood @ ucdavis.edu
UC Davis Animal Alternatives website
Current Programs
• Developing resources to enable access to the literature of alternatives to animals.
• Presenting at conferences and workshops on topics relevant to the Center and to alternatives.
• Developing and maintaining contacts on the University of California campuses and laboratories with the animal care community.
• Disseminating information to UC campus and California academic libraries and offices for news, science, administration, and animal care.
• Providing guidance in efficient use of existing information resources, in both print and electronic formats.
Visit the UCD Center for Animal Alternatives Information : Carlson Health Sciences Library / Blaisdell Medical Library.
Tags: Animal Welfare, literature review, searching
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