Frequency of museum attendance: motivation matters

Some recent empirical contributions have highlighted that tourists often go to museums yet appear to extract little utility from the experience. We argue that this is often the case with agents who visit museums only while on holiday and results from a temporary lack of substitute experience goods or compliance with a must-do list. If such agents behaved according to Stigler and Becker’s rational addiction theory, they would also visit museums while at home. However, most do not, which makes them constantly occasional consumers. We indirectly test for the presence of constantly occasional museum attendance by tourists, using data from a survey conducted in 2012 at Vittoriale, the most popular museum at Lake Garda, a renowned Italian tourist destination. By applying multiple correspondence analysis to a question on motivations to visit the museum, we obtain two dimensions of motivation: one based on a search for knowledge and the other based on a more recreational attitude. Identification of the latter is a new finding in itself. We include these dimensions as regressors in a model used to explain museum attendance. We find, as expected, that light consumption negatively affects attendance. We therefore argue that empirical analyses of museum attendance should not disregard light motivation as a possible driver.     

Transport and deposition of airborne pollutants in exhibition areas located in historical buildings–study in Wawel Castle Museum in Cracow,Poland

Historical buildings and castles that have been turned nowadays into museums, as an exhibition area for precious cultural heritage (CH) items, need more attention since they are CH objects by themselves. Moreover, the preservation techniques require often, significant interventions; however such changes are not always possible or are very limited. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of outdoor air pollution on the composition of particulate matter and gases inside the museum of Wawel Castle in Cracow, Poland. During this study a combination of micro and trace analysis techniques were applied, including energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). An intensive transport of air pollutants coupled with accumulation of the particles inside the museum was noticed (considerably higher in winter than summer). A high content of carbon and organic matter agglomerated with inorganic particles was determined. Those particles are of special concern because of their adhesive properties and reactivity. It was also noted that the conditions inside the museum favour the reaction of the particles with gaseous pollutants. It was especially the case for nitrate particles.     

乡村振兴背景下社区(生态)博物馆本土化路径初探——日本内生式乡村创生的启示

社区博物馆自引入以来,一直被理解为一种保护地域文化与生活的乘载工具,对经济议题缺乏研究,使我国社区博物馆实践普遍充满挫败感,直接导致社区博物馆理念在我国的不适与质疑。以此为切入点,通过社区博物馆与内生式发展理念的融合研究,从背景解读,理念的载体、进化、本土化及其彼此关联进行分析,提出了社区博物馆理念架构下的内生式发展是我国乡村地域可持续发展的理想形式,并结合日本乡村地域创生实例以期对我国本土化实践的启迪。     

瑞安发现孙中山珍贵手稿

痴心全意献身革命 去年底,瑞安叶茂钱收藏馆整理旧藏,除了发现百余件井岗山苏区时期重要文物外（《文化交流》2014年第2期刊文介绍）,还发现了孙中山先生的二十八件手稿.作者逐件检视,一读再读,查对考证,深为孙先生满腔革命热情所感动.这些手稿是研究辛亥革命与孙中山其人的珍贵文物,特予郑重报告.     

The Government's Choice of Bureaucratic Organisation: An Application to Italian State Museums

Italian state museums are characterised by a rigid bureaucratic structure and are almost completely financed by government transfers. In this paper we develop a simplified two-stage model in an attempt to explain how the government's preferences for differentiated museum functions may affect museum organisation. The model shows that the government prefers that complementary functions (e.g., conservation and scientific research) be produced by a single museum, whereas it prefers that substitutable functions (e.g., conservation and access by the general public) be produced by two museums. We use this prediction for an empirical analysis of the organisational structure of Italian state museums. On the basis of the unique ISTAT census of the Italian museum system, we test with two separate probit models the probability of observing in a state museum the concentration of either scientific activities of conservation and research or promotion activities for education and the general public. Higher classes of centralisation for the state museums are also considered by means of an ordered probit model. The results seem to suggest that the Italian state museum structure, as surveyed in the early 1990s, fully reflected the traditional policy model viewing museums as institutions devoted to conservation, scientific research and education. JEL-Classification: D73, Z11     

A Quantitative Approach to Evaluate the Relative Efficiency of Museums

Data Envelopment Analysis is used for evaluating the technical efficiency of museum institutions. This approach enables us to create for each museum a relative efficiency measure, which takes into account both the resources used by museums and the results of their activities. Moreover this technique is able to overcome some of the difficulties found when applying more traditional indicators of productivity in evaluating the technical efficiency of cultural institutions. An empirical analysis carried out on data from Italian municipal museums illustrates this application of the operational research model.     

Sources of “value for money” for museum visitors: Some survey evidence

This paper provides an economic analysis of the survey responses of visitors who were asked to make a value for money (VFM) assessment of a museum visit. The paper first interprets the notion of VFM from an economic perspective, and distinguishes between evaluations made before and after a visit. It then analyses the survey responses of visitors to a major museum in the North of England, using appropriate statistical techniques to identify the economic determinants of VFM rankings by visitors. The final section discusses the implications of the methodology and results for museum management, and for the design of museum visitor surveys.The authors are grateful to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which financed the visitor survey on which this study is based, to staff at Beamish Museum who made the survey possible, and to their colleague, Dr Barry Thomas, who was co-director on the original project. Valuable comments have been received from colleagues at Durham and from two anonymous referees. The authors however alone responsible for any errors and omissions.     

To preserve or enhance precious memories: a segmented market analysis of the history museum in Singapore

This study examines the value placed on museums by patrons and non-patrons and investigates the factors that affect this valuation with a view to boost visitorship. The total economic value of Singapore’s History Museum is at least US$57 million, and this is high relative to other countries, a fact which can be used to justify increased government funding towards museums as cultural capital. Females and high income people are the target groups for increased visitation, while among the non-patrons, the ethnic majority is another potential clientele. Somewhat surprising is the finding that neither patrons nor non-patrons see the museum as having significant tourist value, and contrary to prospect theory, there is a preference for enhancing the museum’s services over keeping the museum. These findings provide some direction for the management of the museum to improve its visitor appeal.     

Optimal pricing and grant policies for museums

The “free access” policy designed by the British Government has encouraged interest in museum financial issues. We define a principal-agent model for museum administration where there are two income sources: public grants and ticket revenues. This model allows us to define the optimal contract determining public grants, ticket prices, budget and managerial effort. We find a theoretical explanation for the inelastic pricing strategy commonly adopted in cultural economics. We further find that museum manager should never have any control over the price of tickets. The model can also be applied to other institutions, such as schools or NGOs, which are able to raise funds directly from private (e.g., ticket revenues or membership fees) or public sources. JEL Classification number H20, H42, C70, D80, Z10     

What do plastics emit? HS-SPME-GC/MS analyses of new standard plastics and plastic objects in museum collections

In recent years, plastics are designated as a source of indoor pollution and particular attention has thus been devoted to the identification of emitting low molecular weight compounds. Headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC/MS) has been already successfully applied for screening emissions from synthetic materials. This analytical tool being also non-invasive, it has been already successfully applied in the field of cultural heritage science for the identification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from various museum objects made of natural materials. In this research, we aimed at assessing the use of HS-SPME-GC/MS as an in situ non-invasive analytical tool for a better knowledge of the volatile organic compounds emitted by plastics in collections. The possibility of characterizing plastics based on their emission signatures was also evaluated. Twelve new standard plastic samples, belonging to seven main polymer families widely present in museum collections as well as three naturally aged museum objects, were investigated. In this paper, we provide a survey of the VOCs emitted, and the use of HS-SPME-GC/MS for identifying volatile marker compounds, degradation products, additives, and monomer residues of the plastic synthesis is evaluated. More than 200 different VOCs were identified from the new standard samples. Two categories of VOCs were distinguished: “non-specific” and “specific” ones. We showed that based on the “specific” VOCs, it was possible to identify the nature of the polymeric matrix itself or at least to unambiguously distinguish a plastic by family. Emissions from the museum objects were then characterised, and main volatile degradation compounds considered as degradation markers of the natural deterioration of polymeric matrices, were identified. This identification procedure could be further exploited for the characterization of VOCs emitted by objects made of multiple synthetic polymers. Complementary to other techniques, this analytical tool is an interesting way to assess the risk for the objects stored in the vicinity of emitting plastics.     

Combined in situ micro-XRF,LIBS and SEM-EDS analysis of base metal and corrosion products for Islamic copper alloyed artefacts from Umm Qais museum,Jordan

Selected copper alloy artefacts from the collection of the Umm Qais museum at Irbid, Jordan, were studied by SEM-EDS analysis, while in situ analyses were performed by means of portable μ-XRF and LIBS spectrometers. Analysis and characterization of base metal and corrosion products of the copper alloyed artefacts were performed in relation to the environmental conditions of the display and as part of the overall assessment of the museum environment. Findings of this study are directed towards guiding a preventive conservation strategy for the copper alloyed artefacts at the Umm Qais museum.     

能人辈出的“绍兴师爷”

说起绍兴师爷,人们就会想到戏曲舞台上那个头戴方巾,身穿大褂,抹着白鼻子,在官老爷身边转来转去,尽出点子的文丑。陈道明出演的电视剧《绍兴师爷》,把方敬斋塑造成为一个足智多谋,刚正不阿,善恶分明,救民于苦难的好人。一些研究绍兴师爷的文章、书刊,纷纷出来说好话,绍兴师爷的博物馆也已在绍兴安昌镇建立起来。     

An evaluation of daylight distribution as an initial preventive conservation measure at two Smithsonian Institution Museums, Washington DC, USA

This paper presents the results of a light levels survey conducted at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture in Washington DC. The museum space is shared by the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. After six years of extensive renovations, the building reopened to the public in July 1, 2006. The structure was not originally designed to house a museum collection since it contains numerous openings such as windows, doors and skylights, which provide a path for natural radiation to enter the building and come in contact with the artworks. From a preventive conservation standpoint, this is an important problem since sensitive works of art in the collection may be subjected to damage caused by light exposure. Environmental data loggers installed throughout the museum were programmed to take successive measurements every 10 min for 24 h a day, 7 days a week and 52 weeks a year. This light levels assessment started in November 1, 2007 and finished in October 31, 2008. This study presents a new method for determining natural radiation exposures registered in exhibition spaces that rely on both electric lighting and natural lighting, considering the growing trend of using daylight illumination in museums.     

Superstar Museums: An Economic Analysis

Superstar museums are characterized by (1) great prominence among tourists and world fame among the general population; (2) a large number of visitors; (3) a collection of generally known painters and individual paintings; (4) an exceptional architecture; and (5) a large role of commercialization, including a substantial impact on the local economy. The superstar phenomenon is caused by factors both on the demand and the supply side of the market. Superstar museums are forced to offer total experience to the visitors; they have to relate to events in history, technology, politics, films and TV, and they have to provide for everything from education, food, gifts, shopping to entertainment. The development of superstar status strongly affects museum policy. The strategic orientation emphasizes visitors' demands; the organization has to be decentralized into processes each devoted to particular segments of visitors, to special exhibitions or support activities. There are also major consequences for human resource management, in particular, relating to flexibility and staff composition of paid employees and volunteers.     

Determining the size of museum subsidies

The justification of a subsidy relies upon the museum's soical value which consists in its use value, its non-use value, and in its externalities. The estimation of these values is based on the consumer sovereignty expressed by the net cash revenues of the museum, the consumer surplus, positive externalities and the willingness to pay taxes. The paper measures these sources of value by the travel cost and contingent valuation methods and by special computations of externalities. The particular museum, used in this paper as a case study, seems to pass the test, i.e, its subsidies do not exceed its social value.     

“Better an egg today than a hen tomorrow” on the implications of deaccess policies for donations to museums

Severe budget cuts in the cultural sectors of many countries have spurred disparate suggestions for alternative sources available to public institutions. Deaccessioning may be an option, although controversial, to guarantee the survival of cultural institutions. This paper addresses the consequences that deaccessioning may have on donations of artworks to museums, by developing a sequential game with incomplete information. We investigate the interactions between donors and museums, when the former is uncertain about the commitment of a museum not to deaccess part of its endowment in the future. Our analysis shows that deaccessioning may reduce art donations to museums. Interestingly, public grants to museums cause a negative externality to a committed museum, which experiences a reduction in donations. Results provide intuitions for the widespread resistance to deaccessioning of museum associations, for their efforts to enforce common regulation restricting the use of proceeds to the acquisition of art, and also for the proliferation of private art museums.     

Communication Productivity: A Major Cause for the Changing Output of Art Museums

Art museum output changes away from collection maintenance to display events and to the sale of add-on goods. What is the driving force? A series of theoretical explanations are tested: technological changes which favor new input combinations and thus arrive at a changed output; changes in the relative price structure; income flows and their relation to the productivity of the different museum output segments. It will be claimed that changes in the ability of art museums to become productive as part of a communication network are the major driving force of the output change.     

Ownership,organization structure and public service provision: the case of museums

This article provides an empirical investigation of the effects of the ownership and organizational structure on the performance of cultural institutions. More specifically, we consider how museums are effective in their function of disseminating culture to audiences and contributing to the local development. By exploiting a unique data set based on the 2011 census of Italian museums, we develop performance indices of accessibility, visitors’ experience, web visibility and promotion of the local cultural context. Using count data models, we regress such measures on the type of organization. We distinguish between governmental museums, public museums whose administration is either outsourced or has financial autonomy and private museums. We control for the most salient characteristics of a museum, competition pressure and some proxies of potential audience. Our evidence shows that private museums, public museums with financial autonomy and outsourced museums outperform public museums run as sub-units of culture departments. This paper contributes to the cultural economics and public policy and administration literature by adding insights into the effect of outsourcing and administrative decentralization in the public cultural sector.     

Museum Assessment and FDH Technology: Towards a Global Approach

This paper presents a global approach for museum assessment. We conceptualise a museum as an entity which needs to be evaluated according to three well defined tasks: preservation, research and communication, and outcomes. We propose a methodology based on the determination of efficiency frontiers. This method uses a deterministic non parametric and non convex technology (Free Disposal Hull). We analyse technical efficiency, but also scale efficiency with a new restrictive scale approach. We present an ordering of museums into classes representing a level of performance with respect to the three required tasks. We illustrate our analysis using a three year database of museums from the French speaking region of Belgium.