LOVE it that would be fabulous! This is innovative -how clever you are to think of this. It's pretty neat how most of us, while working hands-on everyday can have ideas like this come to mind so seemingly quickly (of course it's our experiences and education that allow this to occur)...and we don't have to spend hours brainstorming! Sometimes it can be the most simple detail that can make a difference. So I am reminded of an occurrence in an archaeology lab I worked in. A student was sorting a soil sample for iron scale (unaided -no magnifier). For those of you not familiar with soil samples...when we 'float' soil samples, the light organic matter floats to the top of the water (and we refer to this as 'float'), and the heavy particles stay at the bottom (we call this 'sink'). Once they are dry, we sort through them by spreading them out on a clean surface and pick out objects like shell, wampum, and brass beads - with tweezers. Tedious work. Gawd knows how many soil samples we all sorted - mostly picking out shell which wasn't too hard but, I looked at the girl picking out the iron scale (which looks like that from the gadget puzzle thing my son has, and I find those around the house 'unaided' no problem!) from the sink and I just blurted out (without much thought) that she should run a magnet over the soil sample! So from then on us lab tech were able to separate ferrous/non ferrous which saved us much time, money and eye strain! It's hard and a shame to wait for technology and affordability to catch up! I was lucky to at least work for one CRM firm that used hand-held computers in the field. But that had me thinking, since I was waitressing too - that would be great for taking orders! A server wouldn't have to write down (or memorize) the order and run over to the POS (which then sends to the kitchen). Well what restaurant can afford that???? Well they wouldn't need the POS, which probably costs more and there would be savings in labor $$$ (and would expedite the food order). Low and behold I saw the hand-helds in use a few months later at a dine-in movie theater in Maine! Haven't seen them anywhere else since! Kewl stuff! A shame though when the technology exists and we can't use it for one reason or another. Sorry to go on, I am like a kid in a candy store when it comes to these things. I'll go back now to the rustic museum where I belong...hoping the telephone line doesn't get struck by lightning again....cleaning up mouse poopies and wondering if I am going to get to see that red squirrel again when it runs in ahead of me when I open the door, lol,,,ah lamenting. Pam In a message dated 8/22/2005 7:21:42 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: Tying bar code labelling to the dialogue of last week with respect to labelling of exhibits, it would be great if you could somehow have the bar code readers for patrons as they travel through exhibits and get a more appropriate bit of background (mask the fields you don't want exposed to the public) about the piece. Giving the public a hand held device with typeface that toggles larger or smaller may be a real plus in the days to come if/when the technology decreases in expense. Pamela Silvestri, Museum Assistant Northeast States Civilian Conservation Corps Museum Shenipsit State Forest 166 Chestnut Hill Road Stafford Springs, Connecticut 06076 (860) 684-3430 ========================================================= 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).