>Hello Everybody!
>
>     What sort of experiences have people had with losing loose
>exhibit parts?  I'm referring to things like puzzle pieces or
>blocks with photos or things screened on them, or just loose
>pieces that are part of interactives that aren't nailed down.
 
 
Well, here at Pacific Science Center we currently have an exhibit called
Science of  Games which, as you might surmise, has many pocketsized puzzle
pieces as well as frisbee-like objects and a chess set with 24" high carved
wood pieces.  We haven't had much problem with the small pieces
disappearing, even though some of thepieces are miniature dinosaurs (a
perfect small childrens toy).  However, not two weeks after the exhibit
opened someone managed to sneak out with one of the chess pieces at a cost
of about $200.
 
 We had another Maze exhibit where we handed out 4" X 6" Sintra chits to
everyone who entered the maze and we had a person collecting them as people
left the maze.  We used these simply to keep track of how many people were
in the maze at any one time, but still people went out of there way to take
one home with them.  They would slide them under the edge of the maze wall
to their friends or put them in some dark recess of their baggage and swear
that they were never given one.
 
I think that what we have found is that if you make something "Too Cool"
and don't physically tie it down someone is going to want to take it.  If
you make something "Too Cheap" people look at it as if it were a motel room
ash tray that the institution obviously has a million of and take it as a
souvenir.
 
 
-ken
 
 
Ken Williams                                            [log in to unmask]
Exhibit Coordinator/LAN Manager                     [log in to unmask]
Pacific Science Center