You want an exhibit when it is necessary to see physical objects, walk through a physical space, participate in a physical and social experience and use all of your senses. To see real, historical artifacts or real animals real size in person. You probably want to experience the story rather than see representation, verbal or visual. In fact, if you wanted to see representations of the story, you would probably just read a book.

You would read a book when you want to create and choose the space in which you are learning. When you are interested in seeing/reading the story about something as well as seeing/reading how someone translated that story from imagination and reality into writing and 2D images. You also read a book when you want a more intimate experience away from a crowd, away from the security cameras. Or when you are looking to escape into the world of your imagination, a world which can become nearly as physical as looking at an 3D object through glass. You read a book too, when you want space to interpret the story and imagine the story in your own way, to become a character in the story, when you want a story that is still a story, not an organization of facts and histories. 

But that is not fair. There is the museum of Jurassic Technology and the museum of Ephemerata and others like them which are just as story-like and imagination and wonder compelling as any book. And there are plenty of books out there which are just an organization of facts and histories, just  information design overload. Exhibits can have characters just like books do. And what about online exhibits.

So, I don’t know what I’m saying. I’m just trying to get at that something. That thing about books that makes them so wonderful.