by Naomi Hill, Janet Calderon, Cyril Oberlander, and Garrett Purchio

May 12, 2022

Have you ever wanted to explore animals, wildlife, marine life, humans, and mummies in the Library? Come by to try the interactive Anatomage Table at the Library; the Heart of the University is getting even more interesting! 

Alongside the Scientific Instrument Museum on the second floor, the Anatomage Table is an interactive teaching tool that will support the curriculum of multiple disciplines across campus, and is a fun way to explore and learn. The Anatomage Table enables you to take a trip inside the human body via hyper-realistic 3D anatomy visualization. You’ll be able to see the anatomy just as you would on an actual cadaver.

The Anatomage Table presents the human body to you via a series of interactive experiences: 

• The touchscreen allows for rotation of cadavers, the ability to make multiple dissection cuts, and erase any cuts instantly;

• Explore four life-sized gross anatomies of male and female bodies who passed under different circumstances;

• Toggle between regional anatomy content to visualize structures such as nerves or blood vessels;

• View fully segmented layers so you can take a look at specific vascular and nervous systems in detail;

• Access an image library for histology scans with various annotations;

• Flythrough simulation and radiology workstations are available to explore;

• Veterinary cases include full cat and dog cadavers as well as numerous CT scans of other animals such as turtles, alligators, sharks, sheep, pigs, rabbits, gorillas, horses, earthworms, centipedes, etc.;

• Instructors can use the table to present customized lectures. They can also create quizzes and practicals through Quiz mode which also allows for the exportation of results from student rosters for analysis;

• See animations of the heart, various systems, and kinesiology movements;

• And much more!

The Anatomage Table was designed to operate both horizontally or in a vertical position. Since it is digital, an added bonus is that there are no chemicals or unpleasant smells to deal with!

The Anatomage Table will soon be available to use by everyone that visits the Library. Additionally, the Library is looking into acquiring iPads preloaded with the Anatomage software, which will allow students to explore anatomical structures in a supplemental format. Check back in the fall for SkillShops on using the Anatomage Table. 

The Library thanks Frank Whitlatch, VP of University Advancement, and the many generous donors who made the acquisition of the Anatomage Table possible. It appears that we are the first library in California to have this simulation technology; please visit and explore!

by Aaron Laughlin

February 24, 2022

What does a Library Publishing Specialist do? 

Simply put, I help people get published! I collaborate closely with our publishing team that includes student assistants, as well as Archivist & Digital Publishing Specialist Sarah Godlin and Scholarly Communications & Digital Scholarship Librarian Kyle Morgan, to provide a platform to help prepare people’s scholarly, intellectual, and creative works and bring them to the public. Among other duties, I correspond with authors, help them develop and edit their work, design covers and layouts, and typeset books, journals, and multimedia magazines. I help conceptualize and implement creative ways to present authors’ work and continue to learn so much in the process––not only about the ins and outs of digital design and professional editing, but about community, communication, and collaboration as well. Although we publish many genres of works, my particular focus at the press is often on academic journals. Along with my co-editor Kim Sisu, I manage Cal Poly Humboldt’s own interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed ideaFest Journal, where we work closely and rigorously with authors and peer-reviewers, including students, alumni, faculty, staff and community members, to hone their research and creative work and present it in a peer-reviewed journal. 

What did you do before you worked here?

My background is primarily in music, school, and digital design. I have two degrees from Cal Poly Humboldt: a bachelor’s degree in religious studies (where I focused on South and East Asian religion and mythology) and an MA in English (which culminated in a study of Indigenous literature and mythology). Before returning to school to get my masters degree, I worked for a local small business, primarily by helping them to market products and design online graphics, product labels, posters, brochures, etc. When I wasn’t designing for them, I was working consistently as a musician, performing locally with various bands (and occasionally across the US), writing, recording, and producing my own music, teaching guitar lessons, and working as an audio engineer—work that I continue to do to this day. Music is a lifelong passion for me; I started writing songs when I was 13 and recorded my first fully original album when I was 16, in a band with my brother and friends. I was awarded an Outstanding Musicianship award at the Reno Jazz Festival in Nevada in 2014, and my work has been reviewed and featured internationally in numerous publications such as websites, blogs, magazines, and radio stations. The skills I have learned in all of these pursuits certainly inform my work in the library. I greatly value creativity and storytelling, and I love that my work in the library enables me to utilize my creativity in support of our Humboldt community by providing a platform to publish a diversity of voices and to promote understanding.  

What is your favorite book?

Right now, my favorite books are probably the works that I focused my culminating MA project on: Ceremony, Green Grass, Running Water, and Bearheart: The Heirship Chronicles. As mentioned earlier, I love reading mythology, perhaps particularly south-Asian (the Rāmāyana and Mahābhārata are certainly favorites of mine), Celtic, and Native American mythology, along with a diverse range of myth theorists—from Joseph Campbell to Roland Barthes, Eric Gould, and Laguna Pueblo author Paula Gunn Allen. I am also a lover of poetry, the novels of Tom Robbins, and no list of my favorite book(s) would be complete without mention of fantasy, and my great love of Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings.