Purdue University Press (2011) The Information Needs of Veterinarians Berrypicking out of Necessity Aron Brent Department of Library Information Science, Purdue University VETERINARIANS AS A GROUP Veterinarians are a large population of college-educated professionals who treat and maintain the health of livestock, birds, marine life, house pets and insects. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (2009), “prospective veterinarians must graduate with a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M. or V.M.D.) degree from a 4-year program at an accredited college of veterinary medicine. There are 28 colleges in 26 States that meet accreditation standards set by the Council on Education of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)” (www.BLS.gov). Unlike human medical practitioners, veterinarians are expected to have expertise in all fields of medicine, including diagnosing health problems, vaccinations against diseases, such as distemper and rabies, medicating infections and illnesses, treating and dressing wounds, setting bone fractures, dentistry, performing minor to complex surgery, advising animal feeding, behavior, and breeding, euthanasia, various laboratory blood testing, consulting with farm or ranch owners and managers on animal production, feeding, and housing issues, and diagnostic tests such as X-ray, EKG, ultrasound, blood, urine, and feces ( www.ivis.org, 2009). Many veterinarians are also small business owners with a storefront, surgery and laboratory. Advances in human medicine often transcend to veterinary medicine, which means a constant need to gather information to improve their skills as well as staying informed about studies and information on how to improve their business and maintain the quality of their customer and patient care.