Art Weil wrote, "How difficult, expensive, or time consuming can it be for a
museum with an extensive collection to put out a few cases for people to
see?"

That one struck a nerve. Exhibitors earn their keep by producing beautiful
and effective exhibits, not by throwing a few shells into a case. Never
forget, curators, exhibitors, and administrators are all different people at
most large museums. They're all valuable people when they work well
together, but they have different goals in mind.

It reminds me of a certain local museum whose exhibits were state of the
art... in the 1930's. Everyone agreed that something must be done to update
the exhibits, since otherwise a visitor would only have to see the museum
once in a lifetime. An exhibitor was hired and he drew up a fine plan...
which unfortunately cost more money than the museum had. The plan gathered
dust and the exhibits remained unchanged. One day, desperate to publicize
the annual fossil dig that was rapidly approaching, the collections manager
threw a few fossils from last year's dig into a glass case, with the
original field labels, packing material spilling from crates, excavation
tools, and a few photos. It took him only a few hours, though he had to
fight off the professional exhibitor to do it.

It was one of the best exhibits I ever saw.

Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama