The Museum

A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying and/or preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private collections that are used by researchers and specialists.

Museums are one of the most important institutions available to the public. They preserve, share, and cull together some of the most important exhibits, objects, and artifacts known to human history. They not only aim to educate, but to enrich and further a functional democracy.

The museum technique involved following steps: Reception, preparation, fixation, restoration, preservation, and presentation. Specimens may come from a number of sources like hospitals operation theaters, postmortem room, or research laboratories. It is necessary to make accurate records.

Formative evaluation lets you test exhibit or program elements with visitors before producing a final product. Prototyping these elements is an iterative process. Testing, making adjustments, and retesting produces the best results. Finally, when the exhibit or program is complete, conduct summative evaluation.

Museums build a sense of community identity. They serve as a gathering point for people of all backgrounds to come and enjoy the fun of sharing similar interests. They bridge generational and cultural divides by providing new perspectives and starting conversations.

This information is called the credit line. If the work is owned by a museum, either the Mint or another institution who is lending the object to the museum, then the credit line generally includes whether the object was a gift to the museum or a purchase. It also includes the accession number.

This statement captures critical tensions in the museum education field. Museums are focusing more on visitors, community, and participation; education departments are essential because educators have expertise and connections that help build a vibrant visitorship. But as museums play with staff structures (see, for example, restructuring of staff at the Oakland Museum of California), and begin to make the visitor experience a more central concern, what do educators have to offer? Could the greatest sign of success be irrelevance?

At the core of this quandary is the question: What does a museum educator do? Are museum educators program designers and teachers, who work with groups such as schools and families, turning the galleries into classrooms for select audiences? Are museum educators visitor advocates, representing the visitor on exhibition and program development teams, or during the redesign of museum spaces and amenities? Are educators a specialized team of marketers, who bring new visitors in to the museum, increasing the quantity and diversity of audiences? Are educators experts in creating engaging and participatory visitor experiences – and if so, what does that mean, and what do we gain (or lose) by turning from education to participation?