The Pacific Museum of the Earth

1. Is the Museum open to the public?

Yes, we are!

2. What are the Museum hours?

Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm.

CLOSED on all weekends, statutory holidays, and over the university's Christmas break.

3. How much does admission to the Museum cost?

Nothing. It's free. We do appreciate donations, though.

4. Do you offer guided tours?

Guided tours are available to groups of 8 or more. Go to the Public Programming page for more information.

5. Is there any charge for tours?

Tours are free. However, we do appreciate donations, if your group can afford to make one. Typical donations range from $3 per person in the group to $5 per person in the group.

6. What concepts and/or displays does the tour cover?

The tour begins with basic mineralogy (i.e., what is a mineral and usually a bit about the properties of minerals) and then moves on to ask "What is a rock?" and to explain how the three major types of rock form. One or two rocks from within the three major divisions is explored in more depth, but which rocks those are depend on the tour guide and their own interests. After discussing rocks, the tour goes on to cover fossilization and to look at a few specific fossils, including a cast of some dinosaur eggs, a real archeopteryx and the skeleton of a real Lambeosaurus.

7. Is the tour appropriate for pre-school children? kindergarten? grades 1 through 12?

Our guided tour is designed to be flexible. Thus our tour guides are able to adapt their language and the focus of their discussion to suit the age range and experience of their audience. We have successfully given tours to all ages from kindergarteners to adults. Some of the concepts go over the heads of the younger children, but they always seem to get a kick out of the "pretty rocks" regardless.

8. What other programs do you offer?

We also offer a hands-on Rock Identification Workshop and a hands-on Mineral Properties Workshop. The generous sponsorship of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia allows us to offer these programs free of charge. For more information, please see Rock Sorting Workshop or Mineral Properties Workshop.

9. Are worksheets available?

Yes. We have three levels of worksheet available: one for grade 3/4, one for grades 5-10, and one for grades 11/12.

10. How do I find the Museum?

Although we do give our address on this website, it is not much help in locating us. Check Contact Us for maps and directions. I highly recommend printing out a campus map and finding the Earth and Ocean Sciences--Main building before coming to find us. There are three EOS buildings: Main, South, and East. East is the beige building with the telescope dome on top. Main is the building immediately behind that one.

If you need additional directions, please do call us: 604-822-6992.

11. Do you have a gift shop?

Yes. Currently shop hours are limited to 12:00 (noon) to 2:00pm, Monday through Friday. However, if the curator is in her office, she is happy to open the shop for interested persons any time the Museum is open (9am to 5pm, Monday through Friday). See the Gift Shop page for more information.

12. Does the gift shop sell mineral samples? hand lenses? mineral identification books? mineral kits? rock kits?

We sell mineral samples intended for both amateur or budget-conscious collectors ($2 to $100 range) and those intended for truly dedicated collectors (hundreds to thousands of dollars range).

Hand lenses, mineral identification books, and mineral identification kits (currently sold out) are all for sale in the gift shop.

We do not currently sell pre-assembled sets of rocks or minerals.

See the Gift Shop page for more information.

13. Can I bring a rock/mineral/meteorite/dinosaur bone/fossil to the Museum for identification?

Certainly. We can't guarantee that we'll be able to identify your specimen, but we'll give it our best shot. If you want a really definitive identification of a mineral, you'll want to arrange to have an X-ray diffraction pattern done of it. We can connect you with someone who can do that, though they might charge a fee for the XRD time.

14. How can I volunteer for the Museum?

See the Help Out at the PME (Volunteer Opportunities) page for more information.