External Resources

Alana Conner, senior editor of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, describes the trials and tribulations of evaluating program effectiveness. An experimental social psychologist by training, she illustrates how many evaluation practices in the nonprofit sector may actually mislead funders and organizations. Although most programs would love to implement "Cadillac" evaluations, they can only afford "second-hand Yugos." Following Dr. Conner's talk, Rick Aubry, executive director of Rubicon Programs Inc., describes how his organization secured funding for a state-of-the-art evaluation system. [Abstract excerpted from website]

IssueLab is an open-access online publishing forum and searchable database that aggregates nonprofit research on various social issues, including animals.

This quarterly report issued by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service presents data on U.S. pig production for 17 major states and the U.S. The statistics include inventory of pigs by class, weight group, and value of hogs and pigs, farrowings, farrowing intentions. The number of operations keeping hogs, the number of hog operations and percent of inventory by size groups are also tabulated. Reports are available from June 1968 to present.

A searchable database of crimes against animals documenting type of abuse, type of animal, and date. Incidents are recorded for the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Spain.

This portion of the USDA National Agricultural Library is dedicated to companion animals and provides a bibliography of online resources related to various topics including pet food, spaying and neutering, pet travel, and various regulations.