SALIS (Substance Abuse Librarians & Information Specialists) is an international association of individuals and organizations with special interests in the exchange and dissemination of alcohol, tobacco, and other drug (ATOD) information, including opioids, cannabis, stimulants, etc. Members include librarians, information professionals, prevention specialists, addiction professionals, researchers, and others working in the ATOD field or related fields. Current members are from the United States, Canada, Australia, the UK, and various European countries. With a Home Office in Berkeley, California, it has been incorporated in California since 1988. SALIS is recognized by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service under the Internal Revenue Code Section 501 (c)(3) as a non-profit corporation.
The goals of SALIS are to promote the use of objective, accurate, thorough, and timely ATOD information, and to advocate for the interchange, accessibility, and preservation of information and resources in the field. SALIS encourages dissemination, communication, cooperation, advocacy, and professional development.
Activities
- An annual conference that has been held each year from 1978 to the present. Since 2016 the conference has been held jointly with AMHL (the Association of Mental Health Librarians).
- Building a virtual library, The SALIS Collection, in partnership with the Internet Archive. This digitization project is the creation and work of the SALIS Advocacy Committee to preserve the literature and make it freely available to anyone with an internet connection.
- Dissemination of news and resources for specific Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug concerns as they arise.
- Publishing SALIS News for SALIS members and a blog, News from SALIS for members and the broader community.
- Providing a listserv to promote communication and information sharing among members.
SALIS News Archives (1981 – 2020)
Trace the history of SALIS and the ATOD field through the informative SALIS News, the SALIS newsletter. Current issues of SALIS News are available to SALIS members only.
Networking
Networking with other organizations through partnerships, memberships, collaborations and affiliations is essential to SALIS. These include:
Brief History
SALIS was founded in 1978 by a small group of alcohol and other drug librarians meeting in Houston, TX, USA, with funds from the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Career Teachers’ Program. Later, both LISA (a Canadian addiction information organization) and ELISAD (a European addiction information organization) merged with SALIS.