AAO/AVSL Resource Hub

Welcome!

This collection of resources, many of which are free to access, was compiled and is maintained by the Association of Vision Science Librarians, in collaboration with the American Academy of Optometry.

While not meant to be comprehensive, it is instead intended as a starting point for Candidates for Fellowship as they prepare their application materials.

The resources are grouped in two ways: by subject(s) covered, and by type of resource. Click on the respective tabs to find resources that meet your needs.

This list is updated periodically. Please report any errors or issues.

Neither AVSL nor AAO specifically endorse the resources or links included herein.

Resources by Subject

Resources

Citation index of high quality nursing and allied health literature.

Available via many public libraries.

Cochrane Library

💲Pay-per-view with a ReadCube account:

Collection of databases that contain high-quality, independent evidence to inform healthcare decision-making.

Directory of Open Access Journals

Extensive index of diverse open access journals from around the world.

DiscoverGov provides simple, one-stop searching across multiple U.S. Federal Government databases, including GPO's Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) and GovInfo.

💲$399/year for a subscription. $475/year for DynaMed with Dyna AI

Clinical decision support tool that provides evidence-based information and recommendations on various medical conditions, treatments, and procedures. Vision science coverage is good, but not comprehensive.

Point-of-Care Tool

Education Resources Information Center (ERIC)

An online library of education research and information, sponsored by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education.

Epocrates Drugs

Free, but registration is required. Please note: Epocrates is recommended as a drug lookup, but not as a clinical reference for disease information.

Bryn Mawr Communications, LLC

Includes videos and podcasts on all aspects of vision, vision care, and optometry.

Open access database. PubMed is suggested as a first place to search, however.

Not all content in Google Scholar is free full text; some is behind a paywall.

National Library of Medicine

Save searches and new literature alerts from PubMed and other NIH databases by creating an NCBI account.

National Optometric Association

A union catalog of millions of records that represent open access resources. This catalog was built through harvesting from open access collections worldwide using the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH).

Indexes over 250M scholarly works from 250k sources, with extra coverage of humanities, non-English languages, and the Global South.

Public Library of Science

Open access journals focusing on life, health, and sustainability science.

National Library of Medicine

Produced by the NIH’s National Library of Medicine, PubMed contains over 3.6 million articles and 25 million citations from MEDLINE, books, and journals. Includes PubMed Central, a full-text open archive of biomedical and life sciences literature.

Not all content in PubMed is free full text; some is behind a paywall.

National Library of Medicine

Free full-text archive of biomedical and life sciences journal literature at the U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine.

Free to search, and free full text. Has a small amount of predatory content.

The Eyes Have It

Trobe J, Kellogg Eye Center, University of Michigan

Includes vision-related images, videos, tutorials, quizzes, and more.

Trip Medical Database

Database that indexes clinical research evidence

Expanded paid version available

💲$62/30 days or $599/year

Clinical decision support tool that provides evidence-based information and recommendations on various medical conditions, treatments, and procedures. Vision science coverage is good, but not comprehensive.

Point-of-Care Tool

Illinois College of Optometry

Citation index from the ICO Library that has over 300,000 articles with approximately 12,000 added annually.

Can be accessed on-site at most optometric institutions' libraries

Resources by Type

Resources

Ultimate Guide to Optometry Clinical Analogies

Corte R, Eyes On Eyecare

Diseases and Disorders

Physician's Guide to Assessing and Counseling Older Drivers

Optometry Clinical Cases

Registration required; please note that AVSL does not recommend Medscape as a reputable source for anything but case studies.

Diseases and Disorders

National Optometric Association

National Library of Medicine

Save searches and new literature alerts from PubMed and other NIH databases by creating an NCBI account.

Merck Manual: Eye Disorders (Professional Version)

Diseases and Disorders

Merck Manual Consumer Version - Eye Disorders

Patient Resources

Medline Plus Eyes and Vision Topics

Patient-focused information on various eye disorders.

Patient Resources

Learn About Eye Health [English]

National Eye Institute

Site with information geared towards patients.

Patient Resources

Epocrates Drugs

Free, but registration is required. Please note: Epocrates is recommended as a drug lookup, but not as a clinical reference for disease information.

Aprenda Sobre la Salud Ocular [Spanish]

National Eye Institute

Site with Spanish-language information geared towards patients.

Patient Resources

American Optometric Association

Practice management and career-related resources.

Practice Management

AFB Glossary of Eye Conditions

American Foundation for the Blind

Patient-focused descriptions of common eye conditions, as well as other patient educational content in both English and Spanish.

Diseases and Disorders

AAO Clinical Guidelines

American Academy of Ophthalmology

Diseases and Disorders