> Here are our questions
>
> 1.  How many staff persons do you have for your new facility?
> 2.  How many classrooms
> 3.  What kind of labs?
> 4.  What kind of storage space
> 5.  What is your optimum square footage for education?


I just recently came from a new institution in a new building.
Unfortunatly, most of their space was not thought about in an
educational manner and caused coutless difficulities for the education
staff.  First we served anywhere from 800-1500 students per day.  Eight-
hundred on slow days, 1500 during the spring season.  Those numbers
certainly put stress on the physical and organizational structure of the
instituion.  But to your questions....

1.)  6 full-time members of the education staff- 15-20 part-time staff.
Certainly more people were needed to attend to developing solid
educational programming and handling the large numbers of students.

2.) & 3.)   1 large lab space (max. capacity around 90 people- with some
sitting on the floor)  that could be divided into three spaces and 1
auditorium.  Both of these spaces were shared with the public programs
division.  Some major gymnastics had to be done to accomodate the
students.  Clearly not enough space for creating special programs,
serving the general public, or creating good learning environments.  In
addition to having to juggle with public programs, we also had to
consider special events that catered large events, meetings, etc.

4.) Only a few random nooks and crannies that were available, but
certainly not planned into the design.

5.)  I'm not really sure.


A few other concerns for you to consider.....


How many students/public do you plan(or hope) on serving on an average
day?

How& where will students arrive and depart from the museum?

Are students going to eat lunch at you facility?  If so where? And
where/how will they store lunchs?

Where are students going to put their coats?

In what space will students/groups have an orientation and introducation
to the museum?

These issues can certainly be considered during the design phase of a
new institution making it easier for the education staff to develop
strong programming.  If I can answer any other questions, please let me
know.   Good Luck

Mary Beth McCormack
Museum-Link
Illinois State Museum
Springfield, IL