College and Research Libraries


Library Facilities and Practices in 

Colleges of Veterinary Medicine 

LITTLE LITERATURE exists that can be 
u~~~ in a comparative study of library fa-
cilities for the study of veterinary medi-
cine. In order to develop a plan for such 
facilities at Kansas State University a 
survey was made of current practices in 
colleges of veterinary medicine in the 
United States. 

To obtain this information a question-
naire was sent to colleges of veterinary 
medicine. One page in length, the ques-
tionnaire was brief enough so that a high 
percentage of returns could be expected. 
Sixteen of eighteen had been returned by 
the time of this writing. The date of the 
questionnaire covered the year 1962-63 
with one exception for 1963-64. A short 
supplemental questionnaire was sent 
later, with fifteen returns. 

The American Veterinary Medical As-
sociation states that, "adequate library 
facilities are essential to a sound program 
of veterinary medical education and re-
search. The library should be established 
as a part of the veterinary medical school· 
it should be well housed, convenient!; 
located, and available for the use of stu-
dents and faculty at all reasonable hours. 
It should be administered by a profes-
sionally trained or experienced librarian 
and should be adequately sustained both 
for operation and for the purchase of 
current periodical and other accessories 
of veterinary medical importance."1 Ac-
cording to the survey made by Verner L. 
Johnson and Ernest C. Stove in 1959 
" ' on some of the college campuses the 
veterinary area is situated physically 

• 1 American Veterinary Medical Association, "Essen-
tials of an Acceptable Veterinary School " Directory 
(Chicago: AVMA, 1962). p.82. ' 

BY GEORGE H. FADENRECHT 

Mr. Fadenrecht is Director of Libraries 
in Central Washington State College, Ellen-
burg. 

close to the all-college library. Thus, the 
all-college library may serve the spirit of 
the A VMA requirement, although the let-
ter of the requirement is not satisfied. "2 

Of the sixteen libraries responding to 
the questionnaire, one, Iowa State Uni-
versity, has its veterinary literature com-
pletely integrated and housed in the cen-
tral library. Thus the data that will ap-
pear hereafter will exclude Iowa State 
University. 

Of the fifteen libraries under considera-
tion, thirteen are placed in the adminis-
trative structure under the director of li-
braries, and two directly under the dean 
~f the veterinary college. With the excep-
tion of one, all libraries are located in one 
of the buildings of the veterinary college. 
?ne other college, Washington State, is 
m th~ process of constructing a separate 
vetermary medical library building. 

Of the veterinary medical librarians, 
eleven are professionally trained in li-
brary science, and four are clerks, two 
of :whom have considerable library ex-
penence. 
. The collecti?ns of the libraries vary in 

SlZe from a high of thirty-five thousand 
and five hundred volumes to a low of five 
hundred. There is a median of 10,143 
and an average of 11,062 volumes. Fig-
ures for the number of volumes added 
d~ring th.e ye~r we~e available from otily 
thirteen hbranes, with a high of two thou-

• 2 L i brary Facilities in Colleges of Veterinary Medi-
ctn e (Pullman, Washington ; 1959), mimeo. 

308 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



36 
35 

34 
33 

32 
31 

30 
9 

28 
27 
26 
25 
24 

23 

22 
21 
20 

19 

18 
17 

16 

15 
14 
13 

12 

11 

.1 0 

9 
8 
7 
6 
5 

·4 
3 
2 
1 

sand and a low of one hundred and fifty, 
a median of eight hundred, and an aver-
age of nine hundred and ninety-five. In 
both of the above categories it appears 
that many were estimates. In number of 
volumes held, four were to the nearest 
hundred and seven to the nearest thou-
san~. Only three reported to the exact 

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unit. In periodical titles received the fig-
ures given appear more exact. With four-
teen reporting, the high for periodical 
titles received was six hundred and fifty-
seven and the low fifty, with a median of 
three hundred and thirteen and an aver-
age of three hundred and twelve. (See 
Figure 3.) 

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FIG. !-Holdings in number of volumes. 

JULY 1964 309 

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FIG. 2- Number of volumes added per year. 

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FIG. 3-Number of periodical titles received. 

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FIG. 4-Budget for books, periodicals and binding. 

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0 ** Binding excluded 
In *** P eriodicals and b inding exclu ded .n -· ~ 

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75 0\ FIG. 5-Hours of opening per week. 
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11000 

10000 
FIG. 6-Present space and space needs in square feet. 

9000 

8000 

7000 

6000 

5000 

4000 

3000 

2000 

1000 



170 
160 
150 
140 

130 

i20 
110 

100 

90 
80 

70 
60 
50 

40 
30 

20 
10 

FIG. 7-Number of seats available and needed. 

SEATS AVAILABLE SEATS NEEDED 

I 0 



In trying to divide the budget into 
money for books, for periodical subscrip-
tions, and for binding, one runs into the 
difficulties of combined figures in books 
and periodicals or of the absorption of 
all subscriptions into the general library 
subscription budget. The binding budget 
generally was part of the general library 
binding budget. Of fifteen libraries, only 
five could give specific figures budgeted 
for periodical subscriptions and only six 
for binding budgets, thus making medians 
or averages impossible. Of these fifteen 
libraries, twelve had specific figures for 
books, with a high of $12,500 and a low 
of $1,000, a median of $4,300, and an 
average of $5,033. One figure was for 
the 1963-64 fiscal year instead of the 
1962-63 year. The three libraries com-
bining books and periodicals in the same 
figures reported amounts of $4,500, 
$4,200, and $2,500. (See Figure 4, 
which combines budgets for books, peri-
odicals, and binding.) 

In fourteen institutions the veterinary 
library materials are ordered by the gen-
eral library, and one library ordered di-
rectly. In fourteen, the library materials 
are cataloged by the general library, and 
the general library catalog contains cards 
for this collection. One veterinary medi-
cal library is now being recataloged, and 
cards are being added to the general li-
brary catalog. 

The length of the lending period for 
books varied. Nine out of fifteen libraries 
had a lending period of two weeks, three 
of four weeks, and one each of three 
weeks, one week, and overnight. One 
two-week library lent books to faculty 
for a semester, and one four-week library 
allowed four weeks to graduate students 
and faculty, and three weeks to under-
graduates. Another four-week library re-
stricted new books to one week. 

There was even greater variation in the 
lending period for periodicals. One li-
brary lent periodicals for one to three 
weeks, three for one week, and one re-

stricted the one-week loan to periodicals 
five years old and over. At the other ex-
treme, two libraries lent journals only 
overnight, and two did not lend them for 
use outside the library. One library lim-
ited journals less than five years old to 
overnight. Another limited journals to 
three days except to undergraduates, who 
were allowed library use only. One li-
brary restricted unbound materials to 
room use, but lent bound journals for two 
weeks to faculty and three days to grad-
uate students. Still another lent to faculty 
and graduate students for twenty-four 
hours, restricting undergraduates to li-
brary use, and one other lent journals to 
undergraduate students overnight, to 
graduate students for three days, and to 
faculty for three days to two weeks. 

Fourteen libraries responded to the 
question on space currently in use. The 
high in square feet was 9,850, the low 
was 1,182, with an average of 3,303, and 
a median of 2,350. Nine stated that more 
space was needed while four said their 
current space was adequate. One library 
said it needed twelve thousand square 
feet, while another needed twice its pres-
ent space of fifteen hundred square feet. 
The response to the needed space for 
books varied in form, some giving square 
feet, some linear feet, and others num-
ber of volumes. An estimate would place 
the need for book space between fifteen 
thousand to thirty thousand volumes, ex-
cluding the one library which had over 
thirty-five thousand volumes. 

Seating space currently available varied 
from a high of 158 seats to a low of 26, 
with a median of 62.5 and an average of 
72.5 seats. The required seating space 
varied from a high of 165 seats to a low 
of 40, with an average of 96.6 seats. (See 
Figure 7.) 

The enrollment of a college often plays 
an important role in determining the 
amount of space needed, but this is not 
borne out in this survey. One of the 

(Continued on page 995) 

316 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



the Late Nineteenth and Twentieth Cen-
turies" by Arthur H. Minters, art dealer. At 
the meeting of the Agricultural and Biolog-
ical Sciences Subsection, Charles W. Schil-
ling, George Washington University, de-
scribed the work in the pilot program of 
the Biological Sciences Communication 
Project on the compilation of an extensive 
body of information dealing with aquatic 
biology. Dr. Martin Cummings, National 
Library of Medicine, showed a film, "The . 
Medlars Story" to illustrate his discussion of 
the theme of library service to users at the 
research level. The Law and Political Sci-
ence Subsection met jointly with the Ameri-
can Association of Law Libraries to hear 
about the Library of Congress classification 
for Anglo-American law. The Slavic and 

VETERINARY MEDICINE 

(Conti nued from page 916) 

larger colleges required the smallest 
number of seats and number of volumes. 
It was not determined whether the gen-
eral library provided additional facilities. 
Some of the smaller colleges, however, 
were much more ambitious in their stated 
needs, though it should be said that the 
two institutions with the highest enroll-
ments did require the largest facilities. 

In addition to the fact that of fourteen 
libraries all but one served clientele from 
outside the veterinary college as well as 
their own, the final point determined was 
that the hours of service per week were 
less than for general libraries. The great-
est number of hours open per week was 
79.5 and the lowest 49, with a median of 
62 and an average of 62.8. 

A question may be raised concerning 
the amount of related and supporting 
material that is part of the general library 
collection and its relationship to the vet-
erinary collection. The assumption that 
much material of this kind does exist in 

JULY 1964 

East European Subsection heard of some 
experiences in building Slavic research col-
lections. 

The Standards committee held an open 
meeting to provide an opportunity for junior 
college librarians and officials and repre-
sentatives of the American Association of 
Junior Colleges to discuss the strengths and 
weaknesses of the ALA Standards for Jun-
ior College Libraries. The Committee on 
Cooperation with Educational and Profes-
sional Organizations gathered with St. Louis 
architects to compare notes on mutual prob-
lems. Members of the Urban University Li-
braries Committee and guests heard a re-
port by Bernard Kreissman on cooperative 
projects in New York metropolitan libraries. 

•• 

either the main or another branch library 
is supported by the fact that at Kansas 
State University the veterinary library 
collection consists primarily of gifts from 
friends of the veterinary college and 
books purchased from contributions from 

. alumni. Almost all purchases from gen-
eral library funds are housed in the gen-
eral library rather than in the veterinary 
medicine library. Voluntary statements on 
the questionnaire such as the following 
support this further: "The veterinary li-
brary in ·general does not duplicate peri-
odicals already available in the main li-
brary. The majority of periodicals in the 
field of general science, biology, bacteri-
ology, anatomy, physiology, biochemis-
try, etc., are kept in the. main library." 

This survey obviously does not answer 
all specific questions and was not ·in-
tended to approach ·definitiveness. But 
the general guideline which it suggests 
does give us at Kansas State University 
helpful information for planning for the 
future. 

•• 
335