The Brooklyn Public Library now proudly hosts a miniature Mollusk Museum.

The Brooklyn Public Library, one of the largest public libraries in America, now boasts the world’s tiniest mollusk museum—its first ever. Housed in a vending machine-sized space, the installation features 15 engaging exhibits that showcase fascinating details about bivalves, snails, octopuses, and other soft-bodied species, as reported by The Washington Post.

Unveiled on November 10, this unique mollusk museum was created by Amanda Schochet, a computational ecologist, alongside media producer Charles Philipp. In 2016, they co-founded MICRO, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating and distributing compact science museums.

“Science museums are incredible,” the duo shared in a video about their company, which is backed by Science Sandbox, an initiative of the Simons Foundation. “But there aren't enough of them. Most are found in wealthier areas. It’s crucial that everyone has access. So, we chose to reimagine the museum, taking everything we love about them and packing it into a portable box that can go anywhere.”

These factory-made museums are crafted in collaboration with scientists and produced using 3D printing technology. They’re easy to replicate and can be set up in any location, from libraries and airports to even the DMV.

The BPL’s Smallest Mollusk Museum marks MICRO’s debut public project. Why mollusks? Well, they thrive in every environment on Earth and have evolved over millions of years. Moreover, a mollusk museum—whether large or small—didn’t exist yet, as Schochet discovered after misunderstanding Philipp’s mention of going to the world’s “mollusk museum.” (He was actually referring to the “smallest” one, hidden inside a Manhattan elevator shaft.)

The Smallest Mollusk Museum is “filled with exhibits like tiny movie theaters, 3D-printed sculptures of octopus brains and leopard slug embraces, optical illusions that let visitors experience the world from a mollusk’s perspective, and even a holographic mollusk aquarium,” Schochet shares with Mytour. “We’ve cataloged nearly 100,000 mollusk species, but there could be up to 200,000—they're constantly surrounding us. Each one offers a glimpse into a vast, hidden world.”

Librarians have jumped on the mollusk bandwagon, preparing a selection of books for both children and adults about the fascinating creatures featured in the museum’s displays.

The Smallest Mollusk Museum will soon make its way to various branches within the library system. In the meantime, MICRO’s upcoming project will be a second mollusk museum, set to open at the Ronald McDonald House in New York City in December 2017. More locations and new initiatives—including a small physics museum dubbed the Perpetual Motion Museum—will be revealed shortly.