We've been placing visitor comment books with all of our temporary and some
of our permanent exhibits for years and years (at MOA). We've not had a
problem with pages being ripped out.  Occasionally, some folks like to write
in the odd bit of profanity or obnoxious remark and we remove these pages.
Occasionally kids do scribble in them, too.  Some folks like to use the
opportunity to comment on their visit to Vancouver or the museum in general
or a programme they have seen. Sometimes people want an answer to a specific
question and staff usually make the attempt to answer them if an address is
left.  Sometimes people make very detailed and thoughtful comments on the
particular exhibit.  Exhibits that deal with contemporary art and student
exhibits that deal with specific issues often spur visitors to long,
sometimes heated, (written) arguments with one another.

All of the comment books are archived providing an excellent source for
research and reference.  We use relatively cheap notebooks to do the job.
We keep the format of the books as unstructured as possible--that is
notebooks have blank pages, visitors are not asked for any details about
themselves (although most sign their names and city and country of origin).
I am sure otber staff here have lots of comments to make about visitor
comment books.

Carol Mayer (of this institution) has written a paper on the visitor book as
an evaluative tool.  The working title is "Great! Fred and Ethel from
Alberta" and it is to be published later this year in the Journal of Visitor
Studies.

Anne-Marie Fenger
UBC Museum of Anthropology
Vancouver, B.C.

>
>Hi, Bill.
>
>I'm very interested in details of the response notebook you used.  How did you
>keep kids from scribbling and tearing out lots of pages?  Did you request age
>or other information?  Did you request name and address and if persons would
>be available for follow-up questions?  Was book placed high to discourage kids
>who might damage it, but also miss their input?
>
>Thanks,
>Joel Clark
>Science Center of Connecticut
>
>
Anne-Marie Fenger
Manager, Administration
UBC Museum of Anthropology
6393 NW Marine Drive
Vancouver, BC V6T lZ2
Tel.604-822-5567
Fax.604-822-2974
Email.  [log in to unmask]