Museums

A museum is a place or institution, mostly a building in which artifacts, historic, scientific and cultural and other objects are conserved. In the world, most public museum make the items in the available to the public for the purpose of public viewing by exhibitions which in most cases are permanent and sometime temporary. Most large museums are located in the major cities and different museums contain different artifacts and items. There are a variety of museum including those of natural history, science museum, children museum and the war museum.

Various categories of museums

Museum can be categorized in the following divides; firstly, fine arts- these museums contain a variety of paintings, architectural paintings, and sculpture among many others. Secondly, historical museums, they illustrate historical events, the weapons, artefacts made of stones and statues. Thirdly, science and technology museums, they are museums which display the evolution history facts such as fossils of dinosaurs. Fourthly, museum-house, these are museums that are put in the place of birth of a famous person such as Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar’s home. Fifthly, the archaeological museum, these are museums that contain any objects that are related to history. Finally, the general museum, they contain all typ3esw of artefacts and these reason makes them to be called the multidisciplinary museums.

Management of museums

The management of all museums is essential importance for the prosperity of the museum and for the sake of posterity. The management depends on the magnitude of the museum. Every museum in the world has the hierarchy in which the management follows with the board of trustee being the top level of management. The director of the museum is next in command and works together with the board of trustee to make sure that all the objectives and mission of the museum has been achieved as desired hence all the accountability issues are addressed to the public. Both, the Board and the Director establish a system of governance that is guided by policies that set standards for the institution. Documents that set these standards include an institutional or strategic plan, institutional code of ethics, bylaws, and collections policy (Panitch, 2009).

Museum planning

The way that repositories are prearranged and designed differ in accordance to what collections they house, but overall, they adhere to planning a space that is easily accessed by the public and easily displays the chosen artifacts. Most mid-size and large museums employ exhibit design staff for graphic and environmental design projects, including exhibitions.

Space is of at most importance in a museum, some artifacts will occupy a large space than others. Some artifacts even demand for them to be put in a more secure space which is shielded by glass all round to prevent them from being held by people a lot since they are very delicate. All artifacts in a museum are very important and they must be displayed to the visitors in equal opportunities (Panitch, 2009).

Museums are focusing audience engagement strategies on digitization of the collection, social media and informative websites to deliver public value and educational opportunities. Museums today need to fulfil their mission and creating a sustainable future, which means that they must take care of their core assets, the collection, and also invest in strategy and leveraging technology to reach the connected consumer. Most museums in the world are now investing to digitalize so as to provide essential information to the new digital generation. This will also help the public to access crucial information from the comfort of their homes without experiencing expenditure of travelling. To achieve total digitalization the museums have considered the following areas as the most important;  Metadata standards for online collections, digital asset management, digitizing standards and planning, curriculum and other standards for education content and accessibility standards and inclusive design. The digitalized information will help students and other interested parties to access the information in a click of a button.

How artefacts are displayed in the museum

Museums vary widely in size, style, and subject matter, creating a wide range of display needs. Museums prefer a quality product that is also aesthetically pleasing and does not draw attention away from the object(s) being displayed. The products should be easy to use, have clean lines and fit in with the museums design. Display mounts and pedestals may sometimes be made “in house” by the museum staff. To save staff time and resources they can also purchase many stock items (ArtDisplay.com). Some artefacts are displayed on the tables which includes the; Stuttgart table display case with gas struts or pedestal display case, museum retraction barriers, security and queue control (Valente, 2017).

Many communities have their cultures represented in the museums in the United States. These artefacts and other important information have been used to show how the people migrated to the United States and the way they have developed over time.

 The questions that I would ask in the museum are; firstly, how to start a museum- all the necessities that are required to make a museum functional, the museum management, strategies, goals and planning, the cost that is required to start a museum, the qualifications that then staff working in the museum require. I would also ask the curators of the artefacts they are hoping to collect in the future and the time the curators spend working on different parts of their jobs. Lastly I would ask the curators about the artefacts they have never got a chance to see even with them working in the museum.

Conclusion

In summary, the museums in the world provide a unique interactive experience as people can access all the information that they may need. Museums have been used as a store of national heritage, history has been well preserved for the future. Museums are important educational centers. They give essential information to the people, these information may be absent in all other sources but in the museums the information can be got first hand. Museums are also tourist attraction centers and hence are used as a boost to the economic growth in the location it is found and to the country in general. The museums provide employment opportunities to people as most large museums require a lot of skilled and the non-skilled staff to help in the smooth running of the museums. The museums play very important and fundamental roles as researches and many scholars visit the museum to acquire vital information for the purpose of studying since they contain a lot of wealth stored in them.

                                                         Works cited

The Museum and the Landscape: The Educational Proposals of the Douro Museum

Marta Coelho Valente

Museum International 2017

Museum interns talk … about Museum

Judith Panitch

Museum International 2009