Notable Veterinary Medical Librarians
Jesse OSTROFF (1919-2005)
- 20 years in veterinary librarianship
- Reference Librarian and Technical Liaison Officer for Animal Science and Industry, U.S. National Agricultural Library, 1969-1989
- While a VMLS member, encouraged Section participation in NAL exhibits at AVMA annual meetings.
- Compiler, Dairy Technology and Production: a List of Serials, 1976.
- Compiler [with Herner & Company], International Directory of Animal Health and Disease Data Banks, 1982
Major Contributions to Veterinary Librarianship:
Throughout his professional career at the National Agricultural Library (NAL), Jesse Ostroff was a strong and enthusiastic advocate for animal health information, disease data banks, and other advances in veterinary medical librarianship.
Born in Rochester, New York, Isaiah Jesse Ostroff, known as Jesse, served in the Merchant Marine and Coast Guard during World War II. He earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry at the University of Rochester. While working for the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Council on Therapeutic Agents for two years, he completed graduate work at the University of Pennsylvania in veterinary pharmacology. Jesse earned his Masters in Library Science at Columbia University. Settling in the Washington area in 1952, he worked as editor of veterinary publications at the Walter Reed Army Service Graduate School, Army Institute of Research; as head of the Chemical Bibliographic Reference Service for the Office of Technical Services, U.S Department of Commerce (now NTIS); and as head of the Fluoridation Information Service for the U.S. Public Health Service, Dental Health Program.
Joining the NAL staff in 1969 as a reference librarian and technical liaison for animal science and industry, Jesse worked with animal scientists and veterinarians both in Beltsville and in the field. He authored or compiled a number of NAL publications noted below. In his work with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Jesse helped set up EMERPRO, the Emergency Programs bibliographic database on exotic animal diseases. He also helped the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and the Extension Service set up a cooperative Information Center on Meat and Poultry Residues, and was a project manager for development of Integrated Reproduction Management, an expert system on dairy cattle. He also completed a number of other major projects, including the DDT project where he worked with the USDA Bureau of Entomology in collecting, indexing, and documenting literature on the effect of DDT on human health, animal life, and the environment prior to the EPA hearings which determined the future use of DDT in the United States.
As noted in the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section/MLA history at http://www.mlanet.org/archive/history/unit-history/veterinary.html , Jesse became a member of the group early on, attending annual meetings and reporting on the latest veterinary-related information from NAL. He encouraged Section members to help staff a National Agricultural Library exhibit booth at the annual meetings of the American Veterinary Medical Association, and those experiences led the Section to establish a [public relations] committee to coordinate such outreach activities.
Jesse received the Distinguished Service Award for meritorious performance exceeding job requirements at the National Agricultural Library on July 23, 1980. His council and guidance in converting the internal Brucellosis Subfile and incorporating it into AGRICOLA was “a superior improvement to the quality of a critical product and a service to a target public. His outstanding work has contributed immeasurably to the understanding and control of a dangerous and costly disease.” The Burcellosis database later became part of EMERPRO as well.
On March 7, 1986, Jesse was recognized for twelve years of exemplary service for his work with the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Veterinary Services Emergency Program Information Center (EPIC) Data Bank. The EPIC data bank compiled the world literature on more than 90 diseases and arthropod pests that threaten productivity and marketing of U.S. livestock and poultry industries, with more than 58,000 articles available on microfilm to assist in planning for and responding to animal disease emergencies. While making the presentation, Dr. Edwin Pilchard, Veterinary Medical Officer, APHIS, noted that most of the data bank articles were selected from NAL Current Awareness Literature Searches based on Jesse’s painstaking development of search profiles and knowledge of veterinary nomenclature. “Your responsiveness reflects a high degree of personal commitment to the part we share in protecting American agriculture,” said Pilchard.
In total, Jesse served in various government positions for over 35 years before retiring from the U.S. National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Maryland in December, 1989. On his retirement, he said, “The greatest satisfaction I’ve had was to be in on the ground floor of many new and exciting scientific and technical research advances.”
Selected Publications:
Ostroff J, compiler. Dairy technology and production: a list of serials. Beltsville, MD: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library; 1976. (National Agricultural Library, Library list, no. 100).
Ostroff J, Herner and Company. International directory of animal health and disease data banks. [Beltsville, MD]: National Agricultural Library, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture; 1982. (United States. Dept. of Agriculture. Miscellaneous publication, no. 1423).
Dey BP, Ostroff J. Mycobacterioses in swine and their significance to public health. Beltsville, MD: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture; Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service; 1986. (Bibliographies and literature of agriculture, no. 49)
Ostroff J, compiler. Methods for the isolation and identification of Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter jejuni in meat and poultry carcasses. [Beltsville, MD]: National Agricultural Library; [1989].
Contributions to the NAL Quick Bibliography series:
Ostroff, J. Influences on reproduction of dairy cattle 1970-1977. Beltsville, MD: National Agricultural Library, 1978.
Ostroff IJ. Animal scabies, 1969-1978. Beltsville, MD: National Agricultural Library, 1979.
Ostroff, IJ. Contagious Equine Metritis, 1972-1978. Beltsville, MD: National Agricultural Library, 1979.
Ostroff, J. Herpes viruses in horses 1969-1978. Beltsville, MD: National Agricultural Library, 1979.
Honors and Awards:
Distinguished Service Award, Associates NAL, Inc., July 23, 1980.
Recognition for Exemplary Service in Support of the APHIS Veterinary Services, Emergency Programs Information Center (EPIC) Data Back, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, March 7, 1986.
Publications About Jesse Ostroff:
Associates NAL Inc. Presents Awards. Agricultural Libraries Information Notes (ALIN) 1980 6(8):13
Ostroff Recognized for Services to USDA Veterinary Programs. Agricultural Libraries Information Notes (ALIN) 1986 12(5): 8
Swab, JN. Ostroff Retires. Agricultural Libraries Information Notes (ALIN) 1990 16(1): 2-3.
Ostroff, Jesse. [Obituary]. The Washington Post. 26 February 2005.
Tributes and Recollections from Friends and Colleagues:
F. Wilfrid Lancaster on “Getting Published” [cited 7 May 2010] <http://www.libsci.sc.edu/bob/ISP/lancaster2.htm>.
“The ‘biggest moment’ in the field of information science occurred in 1968 when I discovered that my first book has been accepted for publication by John Wiley…… It is never easy for a relatively unknown author to find a publisher, and my experience was no exception…..
At that point I was ready to give up on the whole thing and was beginning to feel that the book was perhaps not worth publishing after all. Quite by chance, I mentioned the situation to a professional colleague, Jesse Ostroff. He said that he was quite friendly with Joe Becker who, at that time, was very influential in Wiley’s publishing in information science. Jesse gave a copy of my text to Joe, who liked it. John Wiley made a rapid decision to publish.
Since this made a significant contribution to furthering my career, I will be eternally grateful to Wiley, Becker and, especially, Jesse. Jesse was an information specialist with some government agency, but I no longer remember which. Very fortunately for me, he had attended a workshop or short course I had given in the area of evaluation.”