82 · Representative Documents: Programmatic Accrediting Agency Reports
Iowa State University
American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA). 21.5. Library and Information Resources
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21.5. Library and Information Resources
21.5.1 Adequacy of information retrieval and learning resources. The Veterinary Medical
Library, a part of the Iowa State University Library system is a facility of 6,600 square feet,
housed in the CVM complex. The library provides access to a variety of print and electronic
information resources for veterinary science and related disciplines. The physical collection
includes 27,995 volumes. The ISU Library subscribes to 97,352 journals, and 84,174 are
available online. The library maintains subscriptions to major online bibliographic databases
such as Biosis Previews, CAB Abstracts, and the Web of Science. From these databases, library
users can often link directly to the full text of the indexed journal article.
For items that are not owned by the library, users can easily request journal articles and books
from the library’s interlibrary loan service. In many cases, these requests are filled within two to
three days. Currently, the library has adequate funds for purchasing books for research and
teaching, including multiple copies of student texts where necessary to support classes.
Beginning in 2009, the library started purchasing electronic books for the collection. There are
currently 27 books related to clinical veterinary medicine available online.
21.5.2 Academic credential(s) for the librarian in charge of the library. The veterinary
medical librarian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Nebraska Wesleyan
University, a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and a
Master of Science degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois. She
has been at Iowa State University since October 2003 and is an assistant professor. She assumed
the veterinary medical librarian duties in January 2008 after the former veterinary medical
librarian retired. Her time is divided between the veterinary medical library and Parks Library
on main campus. She is at the veterinary medical library two to three days per week. She
provides reference, instruction, and collection development services to a number of life sciences
departments and the animal science department on main campus.
21.5.3 Learning resources support for faculty and students, including personnel. Besides
the veterinary medical librarian, learning resources support for library users is available from the
Head of the ISU Library Branch Facilities Department, two full-time library merit staff
employees, and several student assistants. The Veterinary Medical Library is open seven days
per week, for a total of 83.5 hours, during its regular fall and spring semester schedule. During
dead week and finals week, the library is open extended hours.
Since her arrival in 2008, the veterinary medical librarian has been providing instructional
sessions to DVM students, faculty, and staff. First-year students receive an orientation to library
resources and services in BMS 345: Case Studies I. She has also provided instructional sessions
to students who participate in the Summer Scholars research program and students who are hired
by the Center for Food Security and Public Health as summer interns. These sessions provide
more in depth information about how to search PubMed, CAB Abstracts, and other library
resources as well as information about using EndnoteWeb, an online bibliographic management
tool. In spring 2010, the veterinary medical librarian and a colleague from Parks Library offered
three instructional sessions to CVM faculty and staff about Endnote and Endnote Web. Also, an
instructional session was offered to VM-3 students in late spring 2010 this presentation provided
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