Standard Practices Handbook For Museums

Handbook for Museums is the definitive guide of need-to-know information essential for working in the museum world. Presenting a field-tested guide to best practice, the Handbook is formed around a commitment to professionalism in museum practice. The sections provide information on management, security, conservation and education. Including technical notes and international reading lists too, Handbook for Museusms is an excellent manual for managing and training.

For the first time, the U.S. museum profession's current operating standards in areas from public accountability to facilities and risk management are available in a single publication. This guide is an essential reference work for the museum community, presenting the ideals that should be upheld by every museum striving to maintain excellence in its operations. An introductory section explains how virtually anyone associated with museums will find the book valuable, from trustees to staff to funders and the media. It is followed by a full outline of the standards, including the overarching Characteristics of Excellence and the seven areas of performance they address. Throughout the book is commentary by Elizabeth E. Merritt, former director of AAM's Museum Advancement and Excellence Department and founding director of AAM's Center for the Future of Museums. "Insightful commentary by Elizabeth Merritt rings loud and clear and accompanies a concise compilation of policies, practices and plans for managing museums in the twenty-first century. Every museum professional should look to National Standards and Best Practices for U.S. Museums for direction in museum administration and collection stewardship, education programs and exhibitions." — Tim White, assistant director for collections and operations, Yale Peabody Museum; president, Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections Also available from Amazon as a Kindle e-Book: National Standards & Best Practices for U.S. Museums

Based on original contributions by specialists, this manual covers both the theory and the practice required in the management of museums. It is intended for all museum and art gallery profession staff, and includes sections on new technology, marketing, volunteers and museum libraries.

Managing previously unmanaged collections can be challenging. The process of securing the collection and making it accessible needs the mindset of a collections manager as well as the one of a project manager. The target audience are museum professionals with a basic training in collections care that are confronted with collections that are either large in numbers (1000+ artifacts) or stored confusingly, or both. The book is a step-by-step guide how to approach this situation, assuming that there's nothing to start with but a collection that has to be accessioned and the person who is assigned to do it. It is about how to bring order into the chaos, to define what is needed in terms of time, money, staff and material, to spot facility issues and potential dangers, and to use the power of networking to solve an otherwise unsolvable task. Many chapters conclude with “logical exits,” the points at which the collection in a condition that allows you to leave it for the next curator to take over. A common issue is that time frames are often so tight that the target of having the collection in good shape at the end of a contract or at a fixed date can’t be met. Another common scenario may be that other projects become more important and you have to stop working on the collection, which might sound familiar to many directors of small museums. “Logical exits” are the points you can do this without risking that everything you’ve done so far or since the last “logical exit” was a waste of time. For contractors those “logical exits” might serve as orientation points when negotiating the work that has to be done on the collection.

The Routledge International Handbook of New Digital Practices in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums and Heritage Sites presents a fascinating picture of the ways in which today's cultural institutions are undergoing a transformation through innovative applications of digital technology. With a strong focus on digital design practice, the volume captures the vital discourse between curators, exhibition designers, historians, heritage practitioners, technologists and interaction designers from around the world. Contributors interrogate how their projects are extending the traditional reach and engagement of institutions through digital designs that reconfigure the interplay between collections, public knowledge and civic society. Bringing together the experiences of some of today’s most innovative cultural institutions and thinkers, the Handbook provides refreshingly new ideas and directions for the exciting digital challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. As such, it should be essential reading for academics, students, designers and professionals interested in the production of culture in the post-digital age.

Described by GEM* as 'a very informative and practical book ... worth having on any museum shelf', the Museum Educator's Handbook is a thorough and practical guide to setting up and running education services in all types of museum, even the smallest, in any geographical setting. This third edition has been comprehensively updated to reflect the increased emphasis on the role of museums at all levels of education, from schools to further and higher education. There are new sections which deal with the importance of risk management and quality assurance, as well as guidance on the prevalent use of policy documents and new marketing methods. *Group for Education in Museums