With the millennium around the corner, museums are re-evaluating their various roles as cultural organizations. At the same time they are exploring new ways to interact with their communities and provide meaningful services and opportunities for informal learning. Beginning with an entire issue of Daedalus dedicated to America's museums, we are witnessing a re-evaluation of the traditional services and mission of museums as they strive to maintain and strengthen their ties with the community. Here are some recent publications that address these issues of collaboration/community building, museum education/informal learning, and museum administration/museum theory.
"America's Museums" Daedalus: Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. V. 128 No. 3 (Summer 1999).
This issue of Daedalus devotes itself exclusively to the American museum and the new interests/forces over the last hundred years that have served to change and modify the museum.
Archibald, Robert R. A Place to Remember: Using History to Build Community. Walnut Creek,
CA: Altamira Press, 1999.
Local historian Robert R. Archibald's personal exploration of the intersections of history, memory and community reveals how we participate in the making and sustaining of community as well as how we remember the community that shaped us.
Diamond, Judy. Practical Evaluation Guide: Tools for Museums & Other Informal Educational
Settings. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press, 1999.
A practical, clearly written, step-by-step approach which gives you the tools to evaluate the effectiveness of programs and exhibits in informal educational settings including museums, science centers, zoos, aquaria, botanical gardens, and parks.
Frost-Kumpf, Hilary Anne. Cultural Districts: The Arts as a Strategy for Revitalizing Our Cities.
Washington, D.C.: Americans for the Arts, 1998.
This concise 36 page publication succinctly discusses the power and importance of cultural districts in the revitalization of a city. This handbook reveals how cultural districts are established, the process and players that determine the shape and content of such areas, and how cultural districts can reflect the unique strengths of their respective cities in addition to supporting local artistic and redevelopment goals.
Gardner, James B. and Peter S. LaPaglia, eds. Public History: Essays from the Field. Malabar,
FL: Krieger Publishing Company, 1999.
This volume presents 25 essays that provide an introduction to both the varieties of work in which public historians are engaged and the common purposes they share.
Lister, Mary. Museum Job Descriptions and Organizational Charts. Washington, D.C.:
American Association of Museums, Technical Information Service, 1999.
A great resource providing recent examples of museum organization charts, job descriptions (ranging from guard to director), and mission statements.
The New Museum: Selected Writings by John Cotton Dana. Washington, D.C.: AAM/The
Newark Museum Association, 1999.
John Cotton Dana, the founder of the Newark Museum, envisioned a more responsive and service-oriented museum almost a century ago, writing about museum-school-library collaborations, marketing, and informal learning in museums. This work offers an opportunity to re-evaluate the ideas of this museum pioneer in the context of the 21st century.
Perry, Kenneth D. The Museum Forms Book. 3rd ed. Austin, TX: Texas Association of
Museums, 1999.
The third edition of this valuable resource (considered by many a standard reference for the museum community) provides a completely new compilation of up-to-date forms covering a wide variety of museum-related topics.