Animal Welfare Information Center Newsletter, Winter 1995/1996, Vol. 6 No. 2-4
The Role of the Librarian in the Work of the
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)
by
Elaine Keefer, M.S.L.S., and Fred Westbrook, Ph.D.
Health Sciences Center Library, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
The Improved Standards for Laboratory Animals Act of 1985
resulted in the establishment of the IACUC to review all research
protocols involving the use of animals, inspect the institution's
animal facilities and animal care program every 6 months, ensure
that all personnel working with animals are properly trained in
the care and use of animals, respond to any reports of improper
treatment of animals, and act as the conscience of the
institution in the care of its laboratory animals.
The members of the IACUC and those using animals in education,
testing, and research need to be made aware of the Animal Welfare
Act amendments of 1985 and the regulations for the care and use
of animals provided in the Code of Federal Regulations (Title 9,
Chapter 1, Subchapter A--Animal Welfare). They need to know how
to access printed and online bibliographies on topics such as
care and use of specific species in the laboratory, animal models
in biomedical research, alleviation of pain in animals, and use
of alternatives in research using animals. The librarian can
provide the following information services to meet these needs:
National Agricultural Library (NAL) and National Library of
Medicine (NLM) publications on animal welfare and use of animals
in the laboratory (see box).
Newsletters from animal welfare organizations such as the
Scientists Center for Animal Welfare (SCAW) and the Center for
Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT).
Provision of database-searching service to allow principal
investigators opportunities to provide assurances that their
research does not duplicate work already done and that their
procedures are carried out with a minimum of discomfort to the
animals. This service is also necessary for investigators to
determine if there are alternative species lower on the
evolutionary scale that could be used in the research or if in
vitro methods could be used.
Promotion of information on animal welfare publications,
audiovisuals, internet resources, and database searching tips in
the publications of the institution the librarian serves, such as
the library newsletter or the Department of Animal Resources
newsletter.
In 1987, the chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use
Committee at Emory University requested that a librarian on the
Health Sciences Center Library (HSCL) staff be appointed as
liaison for the IACUC. Elaine Keefer was assigned that role and
it has been a very challenging and rewarding experience. The
first task was to check the bibliographies in the Guide for
the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, published by the
National Institutes of Health (NIH), against Emory University
Libraries holdings. Items not owned were checked by the chair of
the IACUC to submit for purchase with the understanding that some
items might not be purchased but obtained, if needed, through
interlibrary loan.
In 1988, the IACUC sent Keefer to the Animal Welfare Information
Center (AWIC) located in the NAL, and to the Office of Veterinary
Affairs at the NLM, to acquaint her with the resources available
on animal welfare and the use of laboratory animals in biomedical
research. Using the resulting lists of resources and contact
persons, she prepared a brochure to send to Emory personnel
working with animals announcing that in response to the Animal
Welfare Act amendments of 1985, the HSCL had assessed the Emory
University collection and was prepared to support their
information needs. Emphasis was placed on available databases
that would help them provide the assurances requested by the U.S.
Department of Agriculture (USDA) that they were not unnecessarily
duplicating research and that they had searched the literature
for possible alternatives to painful or distressful procedures
applied to the animals.
In 1991, Jean Larson, Coordinator, Animal Welfare Information
Center, was contacted to plan for an AWIC workshop at Emory.
IACUC members, researchers, and librarians at Emory were invited
and assembled in the HSCL classroom for a half-day session. The
thrust of the presentation was the "3R's" of Russell and
Burch--reduce, refine, and replace--and the importance of
assurances by principal investigators that they have searched the
literature to determine if they can apply one or more of the
"3R's" to their research. Multi-database searching was stressed
as the way to provide these assurances. The workshop was a great
success in raising awareness among the three groups of people
that attended. Shortly thereafter, Keefer was invited to be an
ex-officio member of the IACUC. In 1992, she was invited to
become a voting member of the IACUC and pursue these activities
along with additional duties such as reviewing applications for
the IACUC's monthly protocol review meeting and participating in
the animal facilities inspection every 6 months.
Another responsibility of the IACUC is to document that personnel
have received training in the care and use of the animals with
which they are working. A committee consisting of the IACUC
chair, the university veterinarian, the head of the HSCL Media
Services, and Keefer decided on a test for certification. This
certification at Emory is given on completion of an
audiovisual/computerized test produced by the Laboratory Animal
Training Association (LATA). The LATA program best suited our
need to provide training to over 900 people working with animals
at Emory and use our new developing information infrastructure.
Our ultimate goal is to provide access to the video training
tapes via a campus cable station accessible to personnel at all
Emory vivarium locations. Unfortunately, off-campus sites do not
yet have the cable access needed and are being served by
scheduling the tapes for group viewings at their departments or
in the library. By the time we received our tapes, the deadline
for certification was very close and several hundred people
requested access within a short period of time, which became a
real challenge to the staff in Media Services.
The ultimate goal for access to the computerized test is for
people to be able to access the library server via MS-DOS and
Ethernet on their PC's. However, remote locations are not on
Ethernet and some sites on campus cannot get into the server
because of the security system protecting patient records at
Emory Hospital and Clinic. Happily, another route was found to
access the computerized test by using a modem to dial in with
Norton pcANYWHERE software. We also have stations in HSCL Media
Services for those without remote computer access.
Needless to say the job of trying to clarify these access
problems to the over 900 Emory people has been a challenging one,
and we report on this in hopes that it will alert others to
possible pitfalls.
The LATA software for the tests provides a report system that
lists names of participants, their department, the titles of
tests they took, and their grades. In all there are nine training
videotapes to view, depending on the person's animal care
activities, with tests for five of these tapes (see appendix).
The chair of the IACUC can view these results, sorting out those
with grades below 60 to be notified to repeat the test, and then
print out the report to send to LATA. LATA then provides
certificates for each of the five tests that were successfully
completed, charging the IACUC $3 per test taken and $3 per
certificate prepared and mailed.
According to Keefer, her role as an IACUC member has taken her
beyond her library concerns and into a world of ethical
decision-making that the IACUC deals with at monthly meetings
with vigor and care. In addition to Keefer, who is a lay
representative as well as liaison for the HSCL, there are 20
members of the Emory IACUC: 6 veterinarians, 2 veterinary
interns, a clergy, the director of the Atlanta Humane Society,
the director of the Office of Sponsored Programs, and 9
faculty/research members. Our members come from the Yerkes
Primate Center and the Veterans Administration Medical Center, as
well as Emory campus departments. This allows an excellent array
of expertise with which to review the varied applications the
IACUC receives. Keefer explains that it has been gratifying, as
one of the lay representatives, to see the committee's great
concern that the applicants' presentations of their reasons for
doing their project and their descriptions of the procedures that
will be used on the animals are given in lay terms as requested
by USDA and NIH. Of key importance is their careful monitoring
of the assurances, required in 9 CFR , Sec. 2.31d, that
alternative models are not available and that the research does
not unnecessarily duplicate previous work. The methods and
sources used to determine this are provided, and any database(s)
searched are listed with date of last search attached. The main
duty of the lay representative is to question any shortcomings in
the foregoing concerns and any other discrepancies that might
appear in a protocol. However, as a librarian, Keefer's main
duty is to provide information to the committee and to the
applicants about databases and resources that might shed further
light on an area of research or testing.
- 1. NAL publications
a. Bibliographies
- QB series (Quick Bibliography Series)
- SRB series (Special Reference Briefs)
- AWIC Series (Animal Welfare Information Center)
- Information Resource Series
b. Newsletters
- ALIN (Agricultural Libraries Information Notes)
ALIN Editor, Room 204
United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Library
Beltsville , MD 20705-2351
(Contains listing of new and updated bibliographies that can
be ordered from NAL.)
- Animal Welfare Information Center Newsletter
(Contains animal welfare and IACUC information.)
- 2. NLM publications
a. NLM Current Bibliographies in Medicine
- b. SRB Specialized Bibliography Series
(These can be found in the monthly issues of Index
Medicus.)
- 3. Animal Welfare organizations' newsletters
a. SCAW (Scientists Center for Animal Welfare)
SCAW Newsletter
- b. CAAT (Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing)
The Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal
Testing
- 4. Key databases that cover animal care and research
involving the use of animals
- Agricola
- Biosis Previews
- Cab Abstracts
- Embase
- Federal Research in Progress
- Life Sciences
- Medline
- Psychinfo
- Toxline
- Toxnet
- Zoological Record
- 5. Animal welfare organizations
- Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC)
U.S. Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Library
5 th Floor
10301 Baltimore Ave.
Beltsville, MD 20705-2351
SCAW Scientists Center for Animal Welfare
Golden Triangle Building One
7833 Walker Drive Suite #340
Greenbelt, MD 20770
CAAT The Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal
Testing
The Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health
111 Market Place, Suite 840
Baltimore, MD 21202-6709
- 6. LATA Integrated Training Program
- Laboratory Animal Training Program (LATA)
54 Remington Dr Suite 301
Highland Village, TX 75067
Tape #1 - The New Research Environment
- Tape #2 - The New Research Environment
- Tape #3 - The Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (TEST
AVAILABLE)
- Tape #4 - The Humane Care and Use of the Mouse, Rat and
Hamster (TEST AVAILABLE)
- Tape #5 - The Human Care and Use of the Rabbit and Guinea Pig
(TEST AVAILABLE)
- Tape #6 - The Humane Care and Use of the Dog and Cat (TEST
AVAILABLE)
- Tape #7 - The Humane Care and Use of Nonhuman Primates (TEST
AVAILABLE)
- Tape #8 - Aseptic Surgery of Rodents
- Tape #9 - Anesthesia and Analgesia of Rodents
For additional information, contact Elaine Keefer M.S.L.S., HSCL
Reference Librarian, (Tel: (404) 727-0286 or e-mail:
libek@emory.edu) or Dr. Fred Westbrook, Director Media Services
HSCL, (Tel: (404) 727-5812 or e-mail: libfnw@unix.cc.emory.edu),
Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322.
This article appeared in the Animal Welfare Information Center
Newsletter, Volume 6, Number 2-4, Winter 1995/1996
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The Animal Welfare Information Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Agricultural Research Service
National Agricultural Library
10301 Baltimore Ave.
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Phone: (301) 504-6212
FAX: (301) 504-7125
E-mail: awic@nal.usda.gov
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