ASVIN (Assessing & Supporting Veterinary Information Needs)

The ASVIN Project commenced during a period when veterinary research was becoming increasingly important with a growing awareness of food and animal health issues. Public concern was never higher over issues related to Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), new variant Creuzfeld Jacob disease, and food borne pathogens such as Salmonella, E coli, and Listeria. All of these attracted widespread media attention generating high levels of public anxiety, as indeed has the recent foot and mouth epidemic.

The ‘Selborne Report 1 (1997)’ was commissioned by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons to examine the state of veterinary research in the UK. The report urged the veterinary schools, and other organisations involved in animal health research to co-operate and collaborate further. It did not specifically discuss the information needs of veterinary, or animal health researchers. The ASVIN project (Assessing and Supporting Veterinary Information Needs) sought to take up this issue.

The ASVIN project was an eighteen-month project based at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) that commenced at the beginning of November 1999.