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I do not know your specific situation with facilities. Ask visitors to keep liquids in the lockers you provide. Ask them to keep liquids at the front desk where they check in. Ask them to keep liquids in their car. Ask them to use liquids allowed to be kept on their persons in the restaurant, or reception area, or front desk. There is no reason to use liquids in the collections areas short of criminal or police activity. In most museums, no one is more than 30 seconds or so from a safe, non-collections area. Unless they are trying to create a problem for political purposes, no one should have an issue with respecting you. If they can safely leave their residence, they can follow your rules.

The number of visitors who insist on taking beverages into the museum for medical reasons seems to have increased a lot lately. Water (for a pulmonary condition, for example) isn’t so much an issue – we just ask them to be sure the bottle is capped tightly and stowed out of sight when not use. On the other hand, many people are now saying they must have Coke or some kind of soft drink with them due to diabetes. This is more problematic. I’m wondering if others are seeing an uptick along these lines and, if so, how they are handling the balance between protecting collections and offering a good visitor service. Thanks!

Marie Via

Director of Exhibitions

Memorial Art Gallery

500 University Ave.

Rochester, NY 14607

585-276-9003

6th Rochester Biennial

July 13–September 21, 2014 in the Grand Gallery

New Ghosts for A New Age: Yoshitoshi’s New Forms of 36 Ghosts

Japanese Prints from the Arthur R. Miller Collection

August 29–November 30, 2014 in the Lockhart Gallery