Richwood Valley has body part replicas in library

Students usually head to the library to find a required book or some other printed study materials.

At the OTC Richwood Valley Campus learning resource center, anatomy students can now get the materials they need for their studies  body parts.

A number of body-part replicas are available for human anatomy classes offered at Richwood Valley and can be checked out from the center.

“We had a student come to us and asked if we had thought about having the items available,” said Ethan Hart, director of Richwood Valley’s LRC. “Until now, the material was kept in the science lab. It was’t accessible all the time. In the library, it’s available until 8 p.m.”

Hart said it was a great idea to make the items available. The models include an arm, a leg, a heart, a brain, an eye and an ear.

“Being a small campus, sometimes you have to think outside the box in regards to providing service. I talked with a science instructor about the models and then started talking to some students about whether they would be interested in using the models in the library. From their input, several models were identified and ordered. It’s definitely something you don’t see every day in a library,” he said.

The models, which stay in the library when students study them, are very realistic looking with moveable parts, many of which have been hand painted. Each part is numbered for identification purposes.

Christie Campbell, who teaches the anatomy classes, said students would begin studying the models later this semester.

“These are the items we will be talking about in our anatomy and physiology classes. The classes are growing in size and having the models in the library suits their needs,” she said.

“It’s more convenient for them. Sure, they could go online and look at a picture but it’s not the same. It’s not the same as holding them. It’s not the same as looking at a picture.”

Depending on interest, more models of more parts could be ordered.

“If there is a demand from students for more models, it’s something we would definitely look into,” Hart said.