I can't speak for the other museums I mentioned in my previous memo, but I can
describe what we've done at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and Canadian
War Museum, which have taken very different approaches to the idea.

At the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the idea is to construct a series of
large cases, approximately 3 metres high, fairly shallow, with a study kiosk
every few metres. These cases will be located (only the first has been put in
place) in otherwise underutilized areas of the public (museum) wing. The
artifacts have labels bearing only a reference number. Every few metres, there
is a rack on the face of the case which holds a number of plasticized cards
containing more information about each artifact in the immediate area (what it
is, when it was made, where, of what, etc. (all the items in the first case
built are from the museum's folk art collection. Only a tiny fraction of the
enormous collection is on display and this will still be true when the
remaining six or seven installations are in place. Security is not a concern as
all the objects are in cases and in areas patrolled by CMC's hosting service.

The situation at the Canadian War Museum is quite different. The only parts of
the collection that are on display are the larger artifacts - tanks, vehicles
and artillery. For security reasons, we do not permit visitors into certain
areas - firearms, war art, textile storage, badges and medals, etc., unless
they are bonafide researchers where special permission has been granted. Nor do
we include the workshops in the open area. We DO have a number of large cases,
containing material from the collections that are not otherwise on display, so
that visitors can have a sense of what is in storage. Each artifact is
labelled. The current labels provide only basic information regarding the
artifact, but we will be improving these to provide more contextual
information. Where we have models or other illustrations of the artifact "in
action", these are displayed with the artifact. When we opened the facility
last weekend, security was provided chiefly by a few staff members who
volunteered to work on weekends and by volunteers provided by Friends of the
Canadian War Museum. Next summer, when staff will be working in the building at
the same time as visitors are in the open areas, we will use the Friends, as
well as staff of our hosting service, for security - and to provide information
to the visitors.

Harry Needham
Canadian War Museum