A general museum serves the community in which it is located and is often based on civic pride and a desire to enhance knowledge of a region. Such museums are common in North and South America, eastern and western Europe, and Australia and New Zealand. Because they serve largely homogeneous communities, these museums often reflect the cultural heritage of their communities. Depending on the local culture, they may also create programs that promote mutual understanding among diverse people.
Artifacts
Artifacts are objects created by human beings. This can be anything from tools to clothing and can date from any time or place. Artifacts also include the remains of things. Artifacts are valuable to scholars studying different cultures. Archaeologists excavate ancient cultures and uncover artifacts that provide clues about how these people lived. Ultimately, these artifacts can help scholars better understand the history of different cultures.
Collections
Museums display part of their collections, while storing the remainder. Displaying items requires more space than storage, and museums often have duplicate items. They may also find that some specimens are more suitable for exhibition than storage. Some objects, such as textiles, are also damaged by light. Museums may adopt various policies to avoid such situations. But it’s not just the objects themselves that must be displayed. In addition to storage concerns, a museum must have an acquisition policy in place to make sure that its collections reflect its values.
Research
The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston needs up-to-date, publicly available holdings information to support its teaching, exhibitions, and publications. Such information comes in many formats, including images, statistical data, and structured text. Research in information management requires knowledge of organisational systems and a strong grasp of data analysis. Research in information management also requires an understanding of data and its various categories. Listed below are some examples of relevant fields of research for a museum.
Engagement
Engaging audiences through engagement is a critical aspect of cultural heritage conservation. It is also important to understand how to attract diverse audiences to your museum. Participation requires a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and accessibility, but it can be challenging to make it happen. Here are some resources for your museum to consider:
Technology
To achieve the ultimate level of technological sophistication, every museum should have a museum technology charter. The charter will identify important technology elements, both the obvious ones and less obvious ones. It will also include future-focused implementations, time-based media acquisition strategies, and digital capabilities. The Museum Technology Charter will serve as a blueprint for advancing digital technologies at museums. The charter will be updated annually and will provide a benchmark for museums to measure their technological readiness.
