In message <[log in to unmask]>
          Pat Reynolds <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Hi All,
> 
> The standards relating to access to information are perhaps not
> discussed as much as they should be ....

Thank you Pat!  This is the most practical thread in this forum for 
some time, although I am commenting very much as a layman.

Standards achieved by different museums vary enormously, and it is not 
ONLY a matter of legibility, which one MIGHT have supposed was so 
obvious that curators could not miss it.

I remember being so frustrated with the layout at the Grinling Gibbons 
exhibition at the V & A that I concluded those who set it up just did 
not care if visitors could read their words or not!

An outstanding example of good practice is the Bowes Museum at Barnard 
Castle, where very clear and legible notices about individual 
paintings manage to aim (helpfully) at the level of children who do 
NOT necessarily know anything about the Biblical stoies and the 
religious background involved.  Most adults today would also be helped 
by such thoughtful help.

One contributor mentioned a notice which referred to an object 2 
floors lower down.  This reminded me of an outstandingly helpful 
e-mail I received from the National Portrait Gallery in London.  It is 
not necessarily ridiculous to show such a notice.  I put the view that 
Herny Irving's statue in the street outside was relevant to one of the 
items displayed in their gallery.  Their response as most 
constructive.

More power to your elbow!

Yours sincerely,  Robin.

-- 
Robin Phillips, Hon Secretary of The Chapels Society
1, Newcastle Avenue, Beeston, Notts., NG9 1BT
Phone: +44 (0) 115 922 4930
web-site: www.britarch.ac.uk/chapelsoc/