At the A. V. Roe Canada Heritage Museum, we've recently been looking at "open
storage" possibilities as well.  However, we've been using the term "visible
storage."  We have a small collection of rather small artifacts, and the system
we were looking at is using display cases that have a traditional "table-top
under glass" portion, but incorporating a number of drawers visitors can pull
out to see more, related artifacts.  Each drawer, and the top display area,
would all be under separate locks.  This system allowed us to combine our needs
for secure storage and display (reducing our start-up costs--we're still new,
with our gallery due to open next month), and making our collection as
accessible as possible.   My take on visible storage is that, while it is more
"crowded" than traditional exhibits, the need to make collections visible (and
the exposure of your storage to public scrutiny) reinforces good storage
principle, and lessens the incidence of harmful crowding in storage.  We've even
had a conservator commend our design (now, if we can just secure the grant money
to build 'em...)

That's my $0.02 (or $0.0134 USD)



----------------------------------------------------------------------
Tim McShane
Curatorial Assistant, Parks Canada
(also, Co-Chair of the Museum Division, Arrow 2000 Project)
Calgary, Alberta