What a marvelous thread! The question of "who is the audience?" is intriguing, since I have a suspicion most people think it's self-evident, but many might not agree on what that self-evident answer is. Do we benefit the collections at the expense of the public, or the public at the expense of the collections? One obvious response (neither one) begs the question. Where do you strike the stewardly balance between the "preserving and protecting" phrase and the "for the benefit of" phrase? In many institutions (including ours) there's a distinct and separate teaching collection, whose value is measured by different standards than the research and systematic collections. No doubt about it, the teaching collections are at much higher risk. That also makes them ideal vehicles for other kinds of teaching--like conservation and stabilization techniques. Alex Barker Curator of Archaeology [log in to unmask] Dallas Museum of Natural History