The Discovery Room, 1980. 

 Amidst the children are a 

 parent in the foreground, a 

 volunteer midway, and a 

 staff member behind. 

 Everyone seems to be 

 enjoying learning. 



vided access to the of fices on the third floor, and a few 

 tourists were flustered by the sight of a smiling female 

 elevator operator packing a .32-caliber pistol. Other 

 women have come directlv onto the force as guards. In 

 the recruiting oi male and female guards alike, pref- 

 erence is given to veterans of the armed forces. 



Another new development is the K-9 corps that be- 

 gan to be used in 1976. Some of the curators expressed 

 dismay, fearing thai the dogs might urinate on speci- 

 mens in the exhibit halls, but this concern has proved 

 to be unfounded. Using dogs in the Museimi on an 

 irregular schedule has added an extra measure of se- 

 ctnily. 



An important recent event in the history of the build- 

 ing was The Precious Legacy, a temporary exhibit in the 

 Evans Gallery in 1983. This was the fust showing of 

 objects from the Jewish Museum in Prague. Security 

 was exceedingly important; should anything have been 

 lost or damaged, it could have had political ramifica- 

 tions. When the Israeli ambassador toured the exhibit, 

 the building was sealed. 



Large crowds were expected, but they exceeded all 

 estimates. Lines ran from the rotunda through Hall 8, 

 down the Constitution Avenue steps, across the lobby, 

 and finally into the Evans Gallery. Often the wait was 

 more than an hour. In addition, a ticket system for 

 admission at stated times was instituted. Throughout 

 all this the guards remained poised, and no one was 

 hurried through the exhibit. One of the officers com- 

 mented that the Office of Protection Services had been 

 involved in the planning from the beginning, and that 

 this was the first time their views and suggestions were 

 seriously considered. The net effect has been that the 

 guards, more than ever before, feel like part of the 

 establishment. 



The Importance of Volunteers 



One of the remarkable aspects of the Museum and the 

 Institution is the large number of volunteers. The 

 Smithsonian is one of the few places in the world where 

 people seem willing to stand in line to volunteer. The 

 volunteer hours contributed over a year approximate 

 those of paid staff." 



The Museum's information service, run from desks 

 in the rotunda and the lobby, is entirely a volunteer 

 operation. The desks are staffed from 10:00 A.M. to 

 4:00 P.M. throughout the year, with sixty-two time slots 

 to be filled each week. This is a lot of hours, yet the 

 desk is never unattended. All sorts of questions are 

 asked and answered. Certainly the tourists, and the 

 scientific and other visitors who have to be announced 

 before proceeding to behind-the-scenes destinations, 

 would put an overload on the guard force, were it not 

 for these volunteers. 



Another place where volunteers are extremely im- 

 portant in Museum work is the docent program. These 

 volunteers lead school groups from one exhibit to the 

 next and make certain the visit is a learning experience, 

 not just a vacation from the classroom. For fiscal year 

 1983, in the Museum of Natural History, 310 docents 

 put in more than 30,000 hours.' As a reflection of 

 changing times in America, the docents now include a 

 growing number of men. 



In addition to docents who roam the halls when school 

 is in session, there are two educational areas in the 

 building that are staffed year-round by volunteers. The 

 Discovery Room is staffed almost entirely by volunteers, 

 about fifty-five of them in all. Two part-time paid staff 

 members are responsible for the room and its speci- 

 mens and for overseeing the volunteer program.* 



The Naturalist Center attracts the even more scien- 



168 



The Museum 



