Museums must make their collections accessible In the past this simply meant packing them into display cases often with wordy labels that made little concession to the lay person Nowadays accessibility should demand more than this Displays can be lively and interesting making the best use of theatrical or architectural techniques to capture visitors attention and perhaps stimulate emotional response But museums should be about more than their displays They should make their collections accessible to the widest possible community The provision of loan boxes of objects for class teachers is one known example of this and recently this principle has been extended by some museums so that similar material is made available for use in treating elderly people who are losing their memory