Let's collect and
> let's conduct and encourage object-centered learning, research,
> scholarship or whatever else you want to call it.  Let's also remember
> that tax-exempt statrus and/or public funding are based on the expectation
> that the institution's work is a broad public benefit.
>


I'm new to the group and will introduce myself another time, but as
someone with museum and "showbiz" background I feel the need to synthesize
two current threads, and say that posting a sign that says only "Do not
touch" is museum work at its most stereotypical, but posting a sign that
explains lucidly and in an interesting, engaging fashion _why_ one shouldn't
touch is showbiz, at its museum best.  The library at UC Davis recently
devoted its entire historical exhibit space to library books damaged by
having food and drinks in the library, and it was considerably more
effective than simply repeating the rule.  Now that's showbiz...

Sean Barry
Section of Evolution and Ecology
  and Department of Pediatrics
University of California
Davis