Buckihgamshire County Museum in Aylesbury (UK) will have what
we call an 'InfoRoom' in seven weeks (we are mostly closed at the
moment).

The InfoRoom will have:
* access to a copy of our collections database,
* access to a copy of our photograph database (images and catalogue info)
* basic reference books,
* reference objects

It will be the place to
* offer object donations
* ask for identifications (if they can't be done on the spot, they
  will be taken in and passed to the appropriate Keeper, as is done now)

It is viewed as an integral part of the new museum displays.  Our labels,
for example, are very basic (name of object, date, and twenty words),
so it will be the place to go for more details.  We want to encourage
our public to make their own identifications, and to start exploring
when the displays provoke them.

It will be staffed by the keepers; there are five of us, and we will rotate
through Tuesday through Friday*, and do Saturdays on an overtime basis.  The
museum is also open on Monday, and for a trial period will be open on Sunday
afternoons.  On days when the museum is open, but the InfoRoom is closed
the Museum Assistants (i.e. security/warding staff) will take in
donations and i.d.s, as they do at the moment.  Our displays are
multi-disciplinary, and developed by the keepers as a team, so we should
all be able to answer basic enquiries related to them.

I'll let you know what's working and what's not in a few months.

* The one week in five that we do not work in InfoRoom is to cover
holidays, sickness, etc.
--
Patricia Reynolds
Keeper of Social History, Buckinghamshire County Museum / Freelance Curator

16 Gibsons Green
Heelands
Milton Keynes
MK13 7NH
ENGLAND

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