Today our carpenters took apart the shelving where the new  Audubon case is to be installed and un-crated the case.  We won’t take the case off the pallet until the wall is painted, so there’s still a bit of “under construction” feel to the Reading Room.  I figure we should be allowed at least as much slack as the Connecticut D.O.T.–and the Watkinson is so much more pleasant than Rte. 95!

The excellent feature of this particular piece of equipment is that one person can open the case, slide the bed out, turn the page, and slide the bed in, without any stress on the book or the human.  The glass is supported by gas struts, which raise automatically when it is unlocked.

Tags: Exhibitions, ornithology