Three other museum viewing experiences come to my mind: The Bishop Museum in Honolulu has a series of windows looking in on collections storage. Select objects are placed on shelves in the windows and presumably, one could watch staff at work in that area. I visited on a weekend and no one was in the space. I was fascinated, however. The (darn, what's the name of it) Tar Pit musuem in LA boasts a large, curved window where visitors can watch paleontology type staff cleaning tar from fossils dug in the nearby tar pit. Very cool. I stood for quite a while watching the process. The Field Museum and their infamous McDonalds Prep Lab where visitors could watch bits of Sue emerge from its matrix. I loved seeing the preparators in safety equipment (including respirators) because it sent a great message about how serious this work should be. In all cases, as a museum-goer I enjoyed the casual, drop-in atmosphere of these viewing spaces and never felt like a peeping tom. I know some of the preparators at the Field hated being on display, but I always felt that with an institutional committment to "customer service" and proper training on how people learn in museums, much of that resentment could have been avoided. Just the opinion of one observer. Clearly visitors enjoyed these experiences. The windows were always crowded and people were engaged in discussing what they saw with the others in their groups. D.Gutenkauf ========================================================= 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).