>Poster:       Christopher Maines <[log in to unmask]>
 
>Actually there several points around the Smithsonian where Web pages are
>being produced fast and furiously.  However, since all of this is very new,
 
Yes, actually, I knew (or had heard) that.  Thank you for the verification
and additional information ... I here openly and without shame confess I
had hoped my comment would elicit such.  All I have seen up to now is the
files and pictures ... some of which make wonderful Windows wallpaper
 <blush>.  I'm very happy to hear expansion is in the offing.
 
Thank you also for the URLs you provide.
 
>Poster:       Robert Guralnick <[log in to unmask]>
 
>        I think museums sell themselves short if they use the
>Web to provide "teasers".  A lot of people will never visit our
 
Well, I didn't really mean to suggest that the Web sites ONLY be teasers
(although, upon re-reading my missive, I obviously seemd to say as much).
Certainly, the rest of the material should, in the best of all possible
worlds, also be available.  However, I do feel that the Web sites can serve
as good advertisement for the musea, and can offer useful information such
as schedules, events, and the like, so that people know when they can come,
and [more reasons] why they might want to come.
 
To the extent that available computing capability, computer expertise, and
finances make it possible, museum Web sites could also try to set up
interactive educational opportunities (series of questions and answers,
with the appearance of a pretty picture as a "prize", can be fun for kids)
(or grownups), or even museum gift shops as an adjunct to catalogue sales.
However, even just graphic and / or written material for informational and
educational purposes should be part of the whole.  I didn't say as much
because I assumed it went without saying.
 
My point really was that the perfect Web site should make the Webcrawler
want to visit the physical museum as well.  That was my purpose in pointing
to two specific musea, the Exploratorium site where you can really get a
sense of place, and the Smithsonian site (as I knew it), which has a
splendid collection of material but NO sense of place.
 
>Poster:       Bayla Singer <[log in to unmask]>
 
>The relation of visitation to online access has been discussed on
>at least one library list (pacs-l): the overwhelming majority of those
>who actually studied the phenomenon found that visitorship increased.
>
>--bayla
 
But was the online access to musea or opacs (online patron access
catalogues)?  Off-site access to a wide range of library catalogues means
the prospective patrons can scout ahead for their research needs and of
course come to the library whose opac indicates it has the material they
want.  Would the same be true of off-site access to museum material?
 
(Yes, I know, I can search the pacs-l logs for myself for the answers, but
said answers might be of interest to museum-l as a whole, so I bring the
point up on this forum.)
 
Mario Rups
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