The John A. Seaverns collection of approximately 7,000 volumes is the result of one man's interest in documenting the horse. The collection is especially strong in racing, hunting, riding, breed histories, veterinary medicine and equestrian art. While most of the volumes date from the 19th and 20th centuries, the collection includes a substantial number of earlier books. Approximately 1500 volumes published before 1923 have been digitized and made freely available on the Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/. Except for the very rare or brittle ones, most of the books are available for interlibrary loan. Library staff will provide reference services and photocopying for a fee.

This 7,000 volume collection consists primarily of monographs, but includes some serials.