Library Guides: Social Work Library Guide: Useful Websites, Associations, and More

General Policy Research Organizations

Brookings Institute
A nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington. Provides quality research and analysis on the full range of public policy issues.
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
A private, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing cooperation between nations and promoting active international engagement by the United States.
CATO Institute
A non-profit public policy research foundation headquartered in Washington, D.C. Provides access to papers and short studies dealing with the various public policy issues.
Council on Foreign Relations
A nonpartisan resource for information and analysis.
Hoover Institution
The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, is a public policy research center at stanford University devoted to advanced study of politics, economics, and political economy. Full-text resources include policy papers and reports.
Institute For Policy Studies
Multi-issue think tank providing reports and publications on peace, justice, and the environment.
Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
An independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues. Best known for regular national surveys that measure public attentiveness to major news stories, and polling.
Rand Corporation
RAND conducts research and provides analysis to address challenges that face the United States and the world. Some publications and papers are available online full text.
World Bank
Provides loans, advice, and customized research for more than 100 developing countries.
World Policy Institute
Part of the New School University, The World Policy Institute is a non-partisan organization providing global policy analysis. Online resources include The World Policy Journal.

Social Work Research Websites

Campbell Collaboration Library
Preparing, maintains and disseminates systematic reviews in education, crime and justice, and social welfare.
A systematic review is a summary of the best available research on a specific question. This is done by using transparent procedures to find, evaluate and synthesize the results of relevant research.
Center for Demography of Health and Aging
Site from a center for interdisciplinary research and training in population aging and health at the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) This link opens in a new window
Includes full text systematic reviews of the effects of healthcare.

HSRR - Health Services and Sciences Research Resources
HSRR is a searchable database of information about research datasets, instruments/indices and software. Run by the National Institute of Health (NIH) through the US National Library of Medicine (NLM).
National Center for Health Statistics
The United States' principal health statistics agency, compiling statistical information through data from birth and death records, medical records, interview surveys, and through direct physical exams and laboratory testing.
National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
This website is provided as an educational resource concerning PTSD and other enduring consequences of traumatic stress, for a variety of audiences.
Office of Immigration Statistics
From the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security, this site offers a wealth of statistical data on all aspects of immigration and immigration control.

Advocacy Organizations

Amnesty International
An international organization focused on realizing the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other internationally recognized human rights standards. Amnesty pursues research, active campaigns and casework, and advocacy to achieve its goals.
Anti-Slavery International
Anti-Slavery International works at local, national and international levels to eliminate all forms of slavery around the world.
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)
An international, independent, medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural or man-made disasters.
Save the Children
An independent organization dedicated to helping children and families in the United States and around the world.
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From the website: "When disaster strikes around the world, Save the Children is there to save lives with food, medical care and education and remains to help communities rebuild through long-term recovery programs. As quickly and as effectively as Save the Children responds to tsunamis and civil conflict, it works to resolve the ongoing struggles children face every day — poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease — and replaces them with hope for the future."

General Social Work Associations

National Association of Social Workers
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is the largest membership organization of professional social workers in the world, with 150,000 members. NASW works to enhance the professional growth and development of its members, to create and maintain professional standards, and to advance sound social policies.
Academy of Certified Social Workers (ACSW)
The Academy of Certified Social Workers was established in 1960 and remains the most widely recognized and respected social work credential.
Association for Community Organization & Social Administration (ACOSA)
ACOSA is a membership organization for community organizers, activists, nonprofit administrators, community builders, policy practitioners, students and educators.
Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB)
Association of boards that regulate social work. ASWB develops and maintains the social work licensing examinations used across the country and in several Canadian provinces, and is a central resource for information on the legal regulation of social work.
Clinical Social Work Association (CSWA)
We are the national professional membership organization for Clinical Social Workers.
Influencing State Policy
Influencing State Policy (ISP) assists social work faculty and students in learning to effectively influence the formation, implementation, and evaluation of state - level policy and legislation.
National Network for Social Work Managers (NNSWM)
The National Network for Social Work Managers is an organization of professionals engaged in every kind of social program including public, private, not-for-profit, for-profit organizations, hospitals, universities, management consulting firms, bureaus and agencies.
The Rural Social Work Caucus
The Rural Social Work Caucus is an informal organization; members often say it is an organization that operates by rumor as opposed to structure, established as a “loose” membership body at the First National Institute on Social Work in Rural Areas hosted by the University of Tennessee in 1976.
The Social Welfare Action Alliance (SWAA)
A national organization of progressive workers in human services.
The Society for Social Work and Research
A non-profit professional society incorporated in the State of New York in 1993. The Society is devoted to the involvement of social workers, other social work faculty, and social work students in research and to promotion of human welfare through research and research applications.