What Does a Welcoming Online Collections Portal Look Like?
In late February 2020, the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University became the latest institution to launch an online collections portal, a feature that is increasingly expected of art museums. Built on our existing …
One Museum’s Plan to Keep Its Full Staff During COVID-19
Like most sectors of the economy, the museum field is facing sharp losses in revenue and uncertainty about when they will be reversed. Many institutions have decided to lay off, furlough, or otherwise reduce the employment or pay of staff …
#5WomenArtists Shaping Museum Practice
Museums are among the most trusted sources of information and can use that superpower of trust to nudge society towards preferred futures. Today on the blog, Amy Mannarino, Director of Communications and Marketing at the National Museum of …
Making a Splash! 6 Things to Know about Exhibits with Water
It’s no surprise that many museums choose to entertain and educate visitors with the stuff that covers 71 percent of our planet’s surface. Water can contribute greatly to a wide variety of museum exhibits and to the enjoyment of audiences, …
The Case for Digital Facility Reports
Facility management is one of the core elements of running a museum. As AAM’s core standards say, it is “incumbent upon [museums] to ensure the safety of their staff, visitors and neighbors, maintain their buildings and grounds, and …
A Modest Proposal for Museum Collections: Apply the principle of direct costs for deaccessioning
Some years ago, shortly before I assumed the directorship of the Ringling Museum of Art—the state art museum of Florida—the leader of the Florida Legislature declared, “I love Rubens.” The Ringling was widely known for its rare and …
Making a Museum in the Age of 3D Digital Models
In 2005, not long after the advent of tabletop 3D printing technology, the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology (UMMP; a research institution) used this approach to generate elements missing from a skeletal mount of the Buesching …
Museopunks Episode 41: Digitization is not neutral
Over the past decade, museums have increasingly shared high-resolution open access images of their collections. Yet there are significant legal and ethical complexities related to digital cultural heritage, particularly when blanket …
Let it Bloom: Reconstructing a hurricane-stricken historic garden
Like many museum professionals, I am drawn to the idea that objects and places connect us to cultures throughout history. We handle the works entrusted to our institutions with extreme care, in no small part because these links to our past …
When It Comes to Protecting Collections, One Size Does Not Fit All
“Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.” —Frank Zappa Too hot? Too cold? Too dry? Too humid? What is that perfect balance? Those responsible for the care of collections in museums and other institutions, such as …
