The Exhibition: Lecture or Conversation?

The problem for art museums of striking a balance between accessibility and scholarship comes to a head in the special exhibition. This article suggests that one way to involve the viewer in this balance is to approach the exhibition not so much as a lecture but as a conversation, with the consequence that the focus is on those issues that are open to verification or resolution by the viewer.     

Fee or Free? New Commercial Services Are Changing the Equation

Abstract

Online full-text research services such as Questia and Ebrary are targeting faculty and undergraduates directly, offering them library-like services for a fee. This has caused a great deal of negative response in the library community, because these companies seem to be trying to compete with and undercut freely available library services. However, rejecting them outright is probably not the best answer—if only because their marketing budgets dwarf our own. This presentation will explore the impacts these services could have on libraries, as well as the ways we might use them to extend our online collections and services. If we engage these companies in conversation, we could end up with cooperation and even partnerships. They may have an inevitable impact on libraries, but it is up to us to shape that impact by taking the initiative.     

Users or Supporters? Understanding Motivations and Behaviors of Museum Members

Research into museum membership schemes and their members is limited and fragmented. This study presents an overview of existing research as a contextual framework for a study of the motivations and behavior of members of a British national museum. The paper examines factors such as members' motives for joining, their usage of benefits, the value they place on membership, and their feelings about the host organization. It concludes with advice as to how membership managers can more effectively manage their own membership organization.     

Ideas,Objects, or People? A Smithsonian Exhibition Team Views Visitors Anew

Abstract An exhibition team at the National Museum of the American Indian, working with a visitor studies specialist from the Smithsonian’s Office of Policy and Analysis, used visitor studies conducted by the entire team during planning for a reinstallation of part of the permanent collection. The studies evolved organically during the exhibition planning as questions and hypotheses arose among the team. The answers led to further studies. This research model brought team members together in a spirit of inquiry and a process of discovery, changed their perceptions of themselves and their subjects, and suggested a new typology of visitors.     

The Intergrated Museum: A Meaningful Role in Society?

Abstract This article describes a process initiated in 1983, at the Canadian Museum of Nature (CMN), which was based on the premise that a responsible natural history museum should assist society in shaping its collective future. The museum predicted that if it were able to help people understand themselves and their relationship to the natural world, the museum would again be seen as valuable to society, and thus would be supported in its efforts. The CMN therefore began to integrate its collections, scholarship, discovery, public programming, and public exhibits into broad, institution‐wide programs focused on the needs and interests of society. These programs enabled the museum to engage its visitors in “guided conversations” in which the museum provided the content, drawing on the research and communication strengths of the museum, while the audience, representing society, set the context. This guided conversation empowered the public to make informed decisions and to influence the museum and its work. CMN also designed exhibit formats that allowed the visiting public to contact industry and government decision‐makers with their opinions. The article describes the museum's evolution through several stages of increasing internal and external integration, ultimately using a managerial matrix to form project teams, with discipline‐based professionals focused on the interests and needs of society. Drawing on audience participation, the CMN reset its programming and offered advice and counsel to government and industry. The museum also took the first steps to include the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples as an additional source of wisdom about the natural world. Financial and other support grew rapidly, effectively demonstrating a successful programmatic feedback loop helping society to shape its future using the museum as an information source and communication tool. The effort was terminated before the integration was completed, but nonetheless, CMN demonstrated that is possible to achieve a programmatic feedback loop that includes collections, science, exhibits, the general public and both government and industry decision‐makers.     

An Issue of Trust: Are Commercial Databases Really Reliable?

Entrepreneurial researchers utilize databases on new and emerging businesses that provide the contact data and other demographic information for research samples. Based on a literature review, the integrity of this data is often assumed, and the vendor's claims as to its accuracy are relied upon. This article tests the accuracy and reliability of one such database, the U.S. New Business database from ReferenceUSA. Specifically, these businesses were contacted to test the validity of the information provided. The research findings suggest that the U.S. New Business database from ReferenceUSA is not a vetted database, and researchers cannot rely on the vendor's promise of accuracy.     

Aggregators: Cornerstone or Annex?

With the goal of building a high quality academic library collection in mind, the Serials Librarian and the Collection Assessment Librarian at Middle Tennessee State University evaluated the value of journal content accessed through a journal aggregator database. Data from EBSCOhost, UlrichsWeb, and Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) Journal Citation Reports were used to evaluate content with respect for subject, quality, and coverage. An important goal of the project was to share the analysis with library liaisons in an effort to assist them with collection development responsibilities. The analysis raises questions about the relationship between discovery, access, and collection development.     

Do Museum Exhibitions Have a Future?

Abstract A 50‐year retrospective return to the first volume of Curator: The Museum Journal suggests that colleagues half a century ago were vitally aware of the cultural potential of museums, the well‐being of visitors, the need for interpretation and learning, and even the appeal of staying open 24 hours a day. So the more things change, the more they stay the same? The question leads to others: Are exhibitions an obsolete medium? Can museums keep pace with the interactions available elsewhere: virtual games, video arcades, jazz clubs, even a good Chinese restaurant? Is the glass half full of optimism or pessimism?