Evaluating Visitors’ Experience with an Open Storage Exhibition at the San Diego Natural History Museum
Client: San Diego Natural History Museum | Location: San Diego, CA
We partnered with the San Diego Natural History Museum to develop strategies to engage visitors with museum collections.
OVERVIEW
In 2018, the San Diego Natural History Museum (theNAT) contracted us to conduct a summative evaluation of Unshelved: Cool Stuff from Storage, a temporary exhibition that provided visitors with a behind-the-scenes look at the museum’s extensive collections of scientific specimens.
The key objectives of the study were to explore: (1) whether visitors understand that the museum has vast collections and the reasons why; (2) how its low level of interpretation affects visitors’ experiences and understanding of the exhibition; and (3) visitors’ personal connections and emotional response to the exhibition.
APPROACH
We employed two methodologies for this study: open-ended qualitative interviews with visitor groups and quantitative timing and tracking observation of visitors to the exhibition. Observations were unobtrusive, meaning that visitors were selected randomly upon entering the exhibition.
CLIENT TAKEAWAYS
We found that this open-storage exhibition was successful in raising visitors’ awareness and understanding of the purpose and authenticity of the natural history collections. Building off the results of the study, we helped theNAT develop strategies to deepen visitors’ understanding and utilization of the museum’s collections.
Based on our recommendations, exhibit planners have explored future opportunities to add interpretation about the museum’s collecting process—from who collects and what they collect, to how and where the specimens are kept. This additional interpretation might help to answer visitors’ general questions and concerns about the specimens and to create more personal connections by highlighting stories of individuals doing scientific work.
