How DAR Communicates to Researchers

There are several standard means used by the DAR to communicate with our colleagues in research.

  • Faculty-managed, lab-specific listservs are used to communicate mortality reports, overcrowded rodent cage notices, improper weanings, notifications that animal enclosures are missing bar codes, and other like matters.
  • Telephone calls are used by the husbandry staff to report that animals have been received. Other arrangements, such as email, can be made, if preferred.
  • Email is used by the vet staff during normal business hours to report sick animals and initiate the discussion of the case management options. On weekends, evenings and holidays, the default procedure of the veterinary staff is to communicate using the emergency contact list in the applicable IACUC protocol unless other arrangements have been made. The veterinary staff is willing and able to establish mechanisms for personal contact by all possible means, but this requires disclosing and posting research contact home phone numbers and cell phone numbers.
  • Emory Listserv accounts are being created by DAR-IT to improve communications between DAR and the animal research community. DAR-IT will work with each research lab to initially setup their listserv and add the necessary approved names to their account. Once setup and tested, the research lab will have the ability to add/subtract staff from their listserv as needed. DAR will provide the necessary documentation and training on how to use the listserv. If you have any questions with your lab's specific Listserv account, please contact DAR IT via emai.
When the need is critical and dissemination must be timely and broad (e.g., major, urgent program changes, disease outbreaks, potentially disruptive maintenance or renovation projects), your DAR broadcasts using the faculty-managed listservs and generally with a direct cc of the associated investigators. The DAR recognizes the limitations of email and the high volumes entering in-boxes. The rules-of-thumb the DAR uses in addressing the shortcomings presented by email are to:
  • Allow investigators to determine who receives these communications via their listeserv management,
  • Only to communicate when absolutely necessary, and
  • Only direct communiques to the impacted population of researchers.

To ensure that important communications from DAR are receivable by email, your DAR recommends that precautions be established to ensure that rare, mass emails from DAR are not routed into quarantine or junk mail repositories.

Updated: 5/4/2023