Redesigned AWIC Web Site Makes it Easier to Find Information about Animal Welfare

July 6, 2006   National Agricultural Library   Jean Larson   http://awic.nal.usda.gov

BELTSVILLE, MD, July 6, 2006--The Animal Welfare Information Center (AWIC) at the National Agricultural Library (NAL) has launched its redesigned Web site featuring significant improvements. The site’s new format and Google-based search engine will make it easier to locate information on a wide variety of animal care and use topics. AWIC and NAL are part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service.

Customers can now browse for information by subject areas such as Research Animals, Farm Animals, or Government and Professional Resources or use the search engine to quickly locate information on a specific topic. The site provides access to all AWIC publications, news articles, regulatory information from USDA-Animal Care, and numerous links to sites providing information on animal welfare, the 3Rs of reduce, refine or replace, literature searching for alternatives, professional guidelines and international regulations, and many other related topics.

AWIC was established by Congress in the 1985 amendments to the Animal Welfare Act to prevent unintended duplication of animal experimentation and to provide information on employee training, methods to reduce or replace animal use, and to refine procedures to minimize pain and distress. The AWIC site was originally launched as a Gopher site at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1994.

AWIC, as part of NAL, is supported by Congressional appropriations and a cooperative agreement with the University of Maryland, Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine in College Park, Maryland.

The redesign of the AWIC Web site implements USDA Web standards and meets U.S. Office of Management and Budget guidelines for focusing on customer needs. For more information, contact: Jean Larson, Animal Welfare Information Center, National Agricultural Library, 10301 Baltimore Avenue, Room 410, Beltsville, MD 20705, e-mail: awic@nal.usda.gov, phone: (301) 504-6212; fax: (301) 504-7125.