Andrew,
 
At 02:40 PM 3/1/99 -0600, you wrote:
>Interesting, Jose Leal (as they say on the radio). How do you manage to
>justify these kinds of exhibits to other museum personnel?
 
The museum staff consists of 5 people; two of them who are somehow involved
in exhibit fabrication (business manager and volunteer coordinator; for the
actual fabrication we use outside contractors) apparently share this view
of life.
 
>Aren't they
>dismissed as being "tired" and "old-fashioned"?
 
I guess this can fly the way it does because so many of our private
sponsors are (or were) shell-collectors themselves, and the board of
trustees is very liberal and not too anxious to micromanage. This
traditional view of (exhibit) life of ours could be a little harder to sell
to state agencies or more bureaucratic funding entities.
 
>And in point of fact, do young people actually slow down and enjoy these
>exhibits?
 
Yes, in average they do, thanks to bold pictures, videos, and concise,
informative text; and the right amount of actual specimens, models of live
mollusks, or live specimens (in our touch-tank).
 
>Is there any evidence that they appreciate them more or less than
>the interactive exhibits?
 
This is harder to evaluate for lack of adequate "controls". I think that
generally speaking the average visitor does not know what to expect when
they come through the door. Overall, I think it is the museum's
responsibility to show to the public, in a sensible way, materials that we
believe are the best and most informative. I think we have succeeded so far.
 
>Andrew K. Rindsberg
>Geological Survey of Alabama
>
__________________________________________________________________________
Jose H. Leal, Ph.D.
Director, The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
Editor-in-chief, THE NAUTILUS
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http://www.uwp.edu/academic/biology/bmsm/bm_shell.htm
3075 Sanibel-Captiva Road
Sanibel, FL 33957 USA
(941) 395-2233; fax (941) 395-6706