The Exhibit as Planned Versus the Exhibit as Experienced

Is it even possible to design museum exhibits that have an above average chance of engaging visitors in meaningful experiences? Museum‐based researchers and designers, working over the past several decades, have endeavored to address this and other questions. Recently, a promising Ideas‐People‐Objects (IPO) model of the visitor experience, subsequently elaborated on to include Physical (IPOP) has been used in the design and subsequent study of visitors' museum experiences. Here I briefly describe the model and introduce three papers featured in this issue of Curator: The Museum Journal that offer new insights and perspectives for understanding the theory behind the model, as well as features of the IPOP model that have been used in the design and interpretation of exhibitions, and a comparison of analytic techniques that produce results that can be used in IPOP‐related research.     

Outside the Exhibit Case

Summary

In planning for a major traveling exhibit in UCLA's undergraduate library outreach was a priority. Programming and publicity targeted segments of the campus and community both as participants and as attendees. This collaboration came to fruition in an exciting array of programs that brought many people into the library and demonstrated the strengths of collections, resources and services to new audiences.

UCLA's College Library, the undergraduate library that recently returned to its historic and award-winning Powell Library Building, was a site for the ALA-Smithsonian traveling exhibition, “A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the United States Constitution.” The Programs and Exhibits Committee of the Library surrounded the display of this material with several months' worth of diverse community and campus programming. Events involved staff, faculty, students, local K-12 teachers, members of the Los Angeles Japanese American Community, writers, film makers, even a movie star (this IS Los Angeles)! In addition to highlighting the strengths of UCLA's Library collections through traditional means, a variety of media and multimedia programs and events supplemented the exhibit.     

An Advocate for Everything: Exploring Exhibit Development Models

Abstract This article presents six models, from within and outside the museum profession, useful to consider when creating exhibition teams. The focus is on five roles—client, content specialist, designer, content interpreter, and project manager—and the authority and responsibility assigned to these roles in the different models. The author examines the pros and cons of the models and provides examples from museums in which they were instituted. The developer model was created at The Field Museum of Natural History to replace the team approach model. Both of these models replaced the curatorial model. The broker model was developed at The Children's Museum in Boston. From outside the museum field, the author presents the architectural model and the theatrical model. Each of the models, in differing ways, defines a process, a point of view about the expected outcomes, and assigns specific authorities and responsibilities to staff members in each of the five roles. The author argues that it is not so important which of the models is chosen for any given exhibition project, but emphasizes that the importance lies in being certain that a model be chosen and rigorously implemented. The appendix also includes a sample exhibit process document from one museum.