On 11 September Diane Brenner wrote:

>The University of British Columbia Anthropology Museum has
>an impressive visible storage installation.  It would be
>interesting to hear what they think about it, now that
>they've lived with it for at least 10 years.  Someone in
>Vancouver have a comment?

Of the 33,000 or so objects in the Museum of Anthropology about 40% are in
Visible Storage (about 70% of the 3-D pieces).

This is a reply to your question about what we think about it from one staff
person who has been involved since its conception--director Michael Ames:

"We have lived with our visible storage system for 19 to 20 years now.  We
have continually reviewed it, critiqued it, analyzed it, studied it, and
surveyed visitors about it, and have always arrived at the same conclusion:
we like the idea and wish we had sufficient funds to improve upon it.

Staff have designed a more accessible (but not always visible) storage
system for textiles and a much-improved case system for less-light sensitive
materials. When we win the lottery we will make the changes.  Meanwhile, the
existing system, now looking a little ragged and old-fashioned [and full],
continues to serve its primary purpose:  to make collections more accessible
to those who want access, such as originating peoples, students, artists,
researchers, and the curious.

Some museum colleagues object to open storage on the grounds that it exposes
the museum mystic to public scrutiny, subjects collections to environmental
degradation, and costs too much.  The first is true; the second can be
avoided by careful case design, as in our new prototype; and the third
depends on the purpose of the institution, to share or to hide away public
collections."

Some publications by MOA staff on the concept of visible storage:

Halpin, Marjorie M.  (also involved since day 0)
        1976    A New Kind of Ethnographic Museum in
                Canada. Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie.

Ames, Michael M.
        1992    Cannibal Tours and Glass Boxes:  The
                Anthropology of Museums.  Vancouver:UBC
                Press.

        1981    Preservation and Access:  A Report on an
                Experiment in Visible Storage. Gazette
                (summer-fall):22-33.

        1985    De-schooling the museum:  a proposal to
                increase ublic access to museums and their
                resources.  Museum 37(1):25-31.

        1977    Visible Storage and Public Documentation.
    Curator 20(1):65-79.