Veterinary medicine
Statement of programs and library needs
The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine (VMRCVM) awards the D.V.M. (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) degree, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in veterinary medicine. It also offers clinical internship and residency programs.
D.V.M. students spend the first three years of the four-year veterinary curriculum in classrooms and laboratories. During the fourth year, D.V.M. students work alongside clinicians and other practitioners in the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and at other sites as they conduct clerkships in surgery, medicine, anesthesiology, radiology, laboratory services and other areas. The College also operates a national Center for Government and Corporate Veterinary Medicine that enables students to study with organizations as varied as the FDA and Seaworld.
Internships and residency programs provide opportunities for veterinarians to acquire additional postgraduate training in clinical veterinary medicine. Master and doctoral programs provide post-graduate training in both the basic and applied science.
The College's research program has five delineated goals for the near future. They are.
- To investigate enhanced diagnostic and therapeutic methods and technologies in the solution of clinical problems.
- To advance the development of infectious disease vaccines utilizing biotechnological methodologies.
- To advance the knowledge of molecular diagnostic tools.
- To investigate areas of toxicology, food safety, biowaste, and risk assessment of public health importance to Virginia and the region.
- To investigate food animal production medicine issues (epidemiology, nutrition, reproduction).
The college's Veterinary Teaching Hospital is a comprehensive, advanced care facility which provides primary and referral care for animals throughout Virginia and Maryland. The hospital complex includes a dozen treatment rooms, extensive animal holding facilities, operating rooms, intensive care units, and diagnostic laboratories. In the In-Hospital Clinical Services, state-of-the-art technology such as plasma transfusion, video-endoscopy (gastroscopy), ultrasonography, electrocardiography and ultrasonic nebulization are available. The Production Management Medicine Service offers ambulatory field service and herd and flock health programs for agricultural producers throughout the two-state service area. Most clinical faculty members are board certified specialists in areas like medicine, surgery, ophthalmology, radiology, anesthesiology, neurology, dermatology and other areas, who apply advanced diagnostic and therapeutic techniques in caring for hospital patients.
At the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, VA., researchers are conducting research in equine gastrointestinal disorders like colic and ulcers, as well as common problems afflicting performance horses like lameness and respiratory complications. The 65,000 square foot center provides referral services for hundreds of practitioners throughout the region.
At the Avrum Gudelsky Veterinary Center at College Park, MD., researchers are investigating avian and food animal infectious diseases.
I. Collection areas
A. Area: Veterinary Medicine
B. Classes and Levels
QH 471-489 Reproduction Research QH 573-671 Cytology Research QL 801-950 Anatomy Research QP Physiology Research QR Microbiology Research R Medicine (General) Study RA Public Aspects of Medicine Study RB Pathology Study RC Internal Medicine Study RD Surgery Study RE Ophthalmology Study RF Otorhinolaryngology Study RG Gynecology and Obstetrics Study RL Dermatology Study RM Therapeutics and Pharmacology Study RS Pharmacy Study SF 600-SF1100 Veterinary Medicine Research
C. Chronology
Emphasis is placed on current publishing, but retrospective collecting may be appropriate as the college grows and opens new research areas.
D. Geographic Guidelines
Primary emphasis is on medicine in temperate climates, especially those of the United States, Canada, South America, and Western Europe. Works on animal diseases in tropical and developing countries may be selected as appropriate.
E. Languages
English is the primary language of the collection. Works in Western European languages and in Russian are occasionally collected with translations being preferred if available.
F. Treatment
Monographs, serials, reference works, handbooks, manuals, and conference proceedings are collected.
G. Formats
Videotapes, slidesets, CD-ROMs and other computer-based programs are important instructional materials in the D.V.M. program. Some microformats are acquired as needed. Primarily print for monographs and most journals, though electronic full-text is also of growing importance for journals. Bibliographic databases are available through the Internet.
H. Multiple copies
Multiple copies are purchased for heavily used titles: in particular, several copies of key texts are sometimes purchased and placed on reserve. (Some binding copy subscriptions may be maintained..
II. Acquisition Strategy
The libraries subscribe to a high percentage of the titles on the "Basic List of Veterinary Serials". Other subscriptions are maintained to support research. Some annual reviews and similar materials, including important monographic series are received on standing order. Gifts are accepted and added to the collection as appropriate. Retrospective collecting is little emphasized in a fast moving field such as medicine, but is done as appropriate. Government documents are sometimes needed; some are acquired by purchase, others by deposit. Important agencies include the U.S. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. National Institutes of Health, U.S. National Library of Medicine, and the U.K. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux.
III. Collection Notes
The areas of interests for the college are veterinary and human medicine, biomedical sciences, business management and law, and medical ethics.
Textbooks at the pre-professional student level, popular treatments and juvenile literature, and theses and dissertations of other institutions generally are not collected.
Students working towards the D.V.M. rely heavily on a circumscribed literature selected by the faculty. This literature is often drawn from the works which support many other disciplines, especially in the basic sciences.
Students working towards M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Veterinary Medicine require interdisciplinary literature covering such diverse fields as biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, toxicology, aquaculture, etc. and materials in such areas are purchased to support these research programs.
Revised 11/2000
