A handbook for academic museums : beyond exhibitions and education

Abstract

Academic museums share a unique mandate: they are partners in education. As such, they have evolved in tandem--and not always easily--with their parent organizations. They can often pursue their missions in innovative ways, address controversial topics, produce unorthodox exhibitions, and have the freedom to experiment. But they operate within a challenging administrative structure--a two-tier environment in which operations, planning, governance, administration, financial support, and fundraising can all become more complex. And in recent years, some colleges and universities have questioned the very need to maintain a museum, while others have attempted to monetize art collections to raise capital. A Handbook for Academic Museums: Beyond Exhibitions and Education is the second of two companion volumes which, quite simply, aim to aggregate in one convenient place good current thinking on the opportunities and issues unique to academic museums. The result is a collection of best practices, innovations, and sound approaches that offer guidance and inspiration for the entire community, large and small, well-endowed and modestly-resourced alike. This book is--above all--a practical resource ... [This volume addresses] the strategic issues of mission, relationship to the parent organization, phases of birth and growth of academic museums, new technologies, and the collection as an 'asset' of the parent organization. [Provided by publisher]