BELIT is an integrated bibliographic database developed by the German Reference Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences (DRZE, Bonn) and operated in co-operation with the Information and Documentation Centre on Ethics in Medicine (IDEM, Göttingen), the International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW, Tübingen), the Bioethics Research Library at Georgetown University (Kennedy Institute of Ethics (KIE), Washington, DC) and the Centre de documentation en éthique (CDE, Comité consultatif national d'éthique, Paris).

BELIT provides access to access to about 1 million records from the integrated German, American and French databases. It is an extensive bibliographic directory of literature in the area of bioethics unique world wide, containing references to monographs, grey literature, legal documents, journal articles, newspaper articles and book contributions.

The co-operation partners contribute the following segments to BELIT:

• DRZE: catalogue of the specialist library and documentation centre (location code: DRZE)
• IDEM: database ETHMED containing references to literature available at the specialist library and documentation centre (location code: IDEM)
• IZEW: database LEWI containing the catalogues of the IZEW library and the library of the Chair for Ethics in the Life Sciences at the University of Tübingen (location code: IZEW and IZEW-LEB)
• KIE: databases of the Bioethics Research Library at Georgetown University (location code: KIE)
• CDE: database of the specialist library and documentation centre (location code: CDE)

DRZE
The German Reference Centre for Ethics in the Life Sciences (DRZE) in Bonn is a scientific institution for the entire field of ethics in the life sciences. It was founded in 1999 on initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), and since 2004, the DRZE is a working group of the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The role of the DRZE is to collect and prepare relevant documents and literature in the area of biomedical ethics in order to enable or facilitate access to information and promote the German contribution to the international debate. The scientific work of the DRZE provides the basis for a qualified discussion of bioethics in a national as well as an international context.

The library and documentation centre of the DRZE collects relevant national and international published monographs, collective works, reference works, journals, newspaper articles, legal documents and grey literature, which is not published commercially (e.g. ethical codes and directives, statements, theses, research reports, surveys, proceedings or parliamentary publications). The main areas of the collections are: bioethics and medical ethics as well as environmental ethics, animal ethics, research ethics and other fields of applied ethics.

The catalogue of the library and documentation centre contains mainly references to German and English monographs, collective works, legal documents, grey literature, journal articles, newspaper articles and book contributions.

IDEM (ETHMED)
The Information and Documentation Centre on Ethics in Medicine (IDEM) was established in 1992 at the office of the Academy for Ethics in Medicine (AEM) in Göttingen. In the first years, the main aim of IDEM was to set up a documentation service for ethics in medicine and health care. This includes the development and maintenance of the literature database ETHMED - Ethics in Medicine. The services of IDEM comprise assistance in and conduct of literature searches, support in obtaining literature as well as the finding of experts.

The database ETHMED contains references to journal articles, monographs, proceedings, grey literature, laws, decrees and court decisions as well as newspaper articles, mainly from German-speaking but also from English-speaking countries.

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IZEW (LEWI)
The International Centre for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities (IZEW) is an interdepartmental research centre at the University of Tübingen and was founded in 1990. It aims at co-operative research between scholars of different disciplines and the advancement of the next generation of researchers in the field of ethics in the sciences and humanities. Another focal point is the transfer of research results to the area of education, and the co-ordination of both regional and international networks on ethical topics. The IZEW maintains an extensive specialist library on interdisciplinary ethics in the sciences and humanities with a documentation centre. The library collection consists of monographs, collective works, journals, laws and grey literature.

The database LEWI comprises the catalogues of the IZEW library and the library of the Chair for Ethics in the Life Sciences at the University of Tübingen. It contains references to monographs, collective works, legal documents, grey literature, journal articles and book contributions.

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KIE
The Kennedy Institute of Ethics (KIE) was established at Georgetown University in 1971. The institute and its library serve as an extensive resource for those who research or study ethics, as well as those who make public policy. At the KIE, a group of scholars is engaged in research and teaching on issues in bioethics.

The Bioethics Research Library at Georgetown University supports research in bioethics and document scholarly and public opinion on bioethical issues. The Bioethics Research Library serves both as a reference library for the public and as an important research library for scholars from the United States and abroad. Bioethics reference services and resources are provided on-site, via telephone and email, through online databases and in library publications. The collections include periodicals and special issues of journals, journal and newspaper articles, books, legal documents, grey literature as well as special collections.

The databases of the Bioethics Research Library at Georgetown University contain mainly references to English books, legal documents, grey literature, journal and newspaper articles as well as book contributions.

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CDE
The Centre de documentation en éthique (CDE) at the Comité consultatif national d'éthique (CCNE) in Paris is a specialist library and documentation centre for the field of ethics in the life sciences, medicine and health care. The CDE was established in 1983 in the course of the foundation of the Comité consultatif national d'éthique pour les sciences de la vie et de la santé (CCNE). It supports the work of the committee but is also open to the public. The library collection comprises books, grey literature, legal documents, journals and other periodicals.

The database of the CDE contains mainly references to French books, legal documents, grey literature, journal issues and articles.

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