Hi Jean, I'm the exhibits writer-editor at the National Air and Space Museum. Among other things, I'm in charge of editing all label scripts for our museum. Our exhibit process is sort of in flux at the moment as well, but it has traditionally worked in the following way?not that this is necessarily the best approach. The curator or curators write a script, then we have a big review meeting on it (involving the museum director and various pertinent department heads and team members), after which the script either goes back to the curators if extensive revisions are needed or is passed on to me for editing. I work one-on-one with the curator or curators at that point to hone the script, which often involves much more than just grammar and spelling. Then we circulate the script for final approval up the chain of command. I'm not sure who takes part in your "editing group." (Is that really more of a review group? I don't think of editing as a group function, but maybe that's just because that's not quite how I work.) But I think the exhibit designer should be a part of the process from the start. It helps enormously to have a designer doing preliminary layouts of objects and labels as you develop a script to help you determine where problems in organization and presentation lie. In my experience, we get better results when design and script development proceed hand in hand than when a designer is simply handed a completed script. Testing problematic labels or exhibit panels as you go helps a lot too. As for who in particular should be involved, I guess that depends a lot on your own group dynamics and politics. I do think a curator (certainly the lead curator) should be involved in any decisions regarding content at every stage. In regard to the comment by Dave Maschino, the concept of having a sheriff--someone whom everyone agrees has final say over disagreements--is important. Who is in charge of the process--who has authority to decide yes or no--is sometimes a fuzzy issue here, and that can lead to problems. David Romanowski Exhibits Writer-Editor National Air and Space Museum [log in to unmask] Jean Reynolds <[log in to unmask] To: [log in to unmask] RICOPA.GOV> cc: Sent by: Museum Subject: question about editing process for labels discussion list <[log in to unmask] .COM> 02/01/02 11:25 AM Please respond to Museum discussion list Hello everyone. I am brand new to the list. I am guessing this is a question which may have been kicked around before, but here goes: I work at a museum in the Phoenix, AZ area and we are currently working on a pretty big exhibit related to late 20th century Arizona history. I am one of the curators of History in the museum (there are 2 of us). Our job is mainly to research, write labels, help plan the exhibits, etc. The staff has been in discussion about the label editing process. Currently, a draft of a set of labels for a certain section is circulated among a small group of staff, who then comment on the labels in a group meeting. We (the curators) revise the labels based on suggestions. The discussion now is, before it goes to an outside editor to check for spelling and grammar errors and such, should there be a final editing group, of 3 to 4 people, who take any further comments from staff as well as from the public ( for labels that are tested), and edit further. The second question is, should the 2 curators of History be involved in that smaller editing group? I would be inclined to say, well, yes of course. But others on staff say that only one history curator or maybe even neither of them should be in the final edit group. The museum seems to be struggling with the concept of how to make the exhibit a team process. We have done things differently before, but now we have new leadership in various positions in the museum, and they are trying to implement different procedures. I would like to send this out for feedback from anyone who might like to respond. Thanks, Jean ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).