Steven,

I have seen this happen as well in other museums and my own.  I think
it is sad that we forget that we are there to "serve" the people that
enter our doors.  If they fail to come to the museum, we have no jobs.
Screaming children, wealthy, poor, ignorant, scholar, blind, lame, or
rude, we msut take into account that this is who puts dinner on our
tables.

Yes, we must protect what is inside our museum.  But, we must also find
ways to make museums accessible to all people and all walks of life.  A
beautiful building filled with marvelous treasures but no one to see
them is a waste.

I know that one of our personla challenges is very little seating.  We
have grown to twice our original size in the past two years.  The
changes require a lot more walking and the elevator system is
challenging to say the least.  many of our visitors don't want to be
offered a wheelchair or informed about the elevators.  They want to be
able to sit down if necessary.

I believe that this list is very important to answering some of these
questions.  I think we should have the right to debate behaviors in our
museums.  Serving our visitors is more than displaying artwork,
artifacts and specimens.  If we can't talk openly about these issues,
then we are forgetting our missions entirely!

Christina
Christina M. Myatt
Theatrical Programming Coordinator
Putnam Museum
1717 West 12th Street
Davenport IA 52804
563.324.1054 ext. 207 (phone)
[log in to unmask]


-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Allison-Bunnell <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2003 12:52:48 -0600
Subject: Gallery behavior & seating

> Someone else raised the larger issue of the quality, availability,
> and
> accepted uses of gallery seating.
>
> I was once in a renown (not the Smithsonian) Washington, DC, museum
> during a
> fit of excruciating back pain. It it debatable whether I should have
> been
> there or not, but I was. I was in one of the galleries and made the
> mistake
> of trying to lie down on one of the benches for a moment to relieve
> the
> pain.
>
> A guard came over, without let least bit of explanation or inquiry
> into my
> condition, and told me I couldn't lie there. I was dressed
> respectably and
> wasn't doing anything else to indicate I might cause trouble.
> Needless to
> say I was not happy to be treated so unsympathetically.
>
> I really think that museums need to balance their needs for security
> of the
> collections and safety of all visitors with some sensitivity for
> individual
> needs. I also think that many museums, as shown by the statements of
> members
> of this list, do try very hard to meet the needs of their visitors.
> Sometimes it's more a matter of the demeanor expressed by staff in
> interacting with the public than the official policies they are
> trying to
> enforce.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------
> Steven Allison-Bunnell, PhD
> Senior Producer & Writer ~ Educational Web Adventures
> [log in to unmask] ~ http://www.eduweb.com
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----
>
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