A Preliminary Inquiry into the Use and Management of 3D Virtual Anatomy Tables within Libraries

This preliminary study explored the use and management practices of 3D virtual anatomy tables (VATs) currently owned by libraries to support their learning communities. This study also examined how libraries have adapted their VAT services during the COVID-19 pandemic. We sent an IRB-approved 15-question survey to members of 46 library-focused email listservs to assess the use and management practices of VATs among libraries. We analyzed the survey results within Qualtrics' default report feature to perform basic calculations and generate visualizations related to the survey data. We received 31 completed surveys, with 23% of those respondents reporting that they were from libraries that owned a virtual anatomy table at any point in time. Respondents from libraries with virtual anatomy tables shared insights into how their libraries offered VAT-related services for their users, how they offered VAT services before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, details regarding their VAT cleaning practices, and what notable challenges they faced while providing VAT services before and during the pandemic. This survey will provide libraries with initial data regarding how other libraries with virtual anatomy tables provide VAT services for their library users and help inform the authors' future research on this topic.