ABSTRACT

Museums are public places where objects, images and memories are kept and shared. They exist in infinite variety and contradiction. They can be places of great excitement and great boredom, sharply insightful and hopelessly bland. Museums are anything that the political climate and the imagination allows them to be. No two museums are the same.
The papers which make up this volume give ample evidence of the variety of views that exist about museums. They also demonstrate that museums and museum professionals are moving forward with energy and conviction. This volume will be invaluable to students and museum professionals and will provoke them to consider museum provision and professionalism in all their forms.

chapter |12 pages

Introduction

part |1 pages

Part 1 The museum: some definitions

chapter 2|2 pages

The Museums Charter

part |1 pages

Part 2 Thinking about museums

chapter 8|3 pages

Museum futures

chapter 10|5 pages

Making up is hard to do

chapter 11|4 pages

Museum as dialogue

chapter 12|10 pages

The future of history museums

chapter 14|5 pages

Visiting and evaluating museums

part |1 pages

Part 3 Museums UK

part |1 pages

Part 4 The museums profession

chapter 20|15 pages

Curatorial identity

chapter 21|5 pages

Defining curation

chapter 25|5 pages

Image and self-image

chapter 26|9 pages

Museum director as manager

chapter 27|6 pages

The state of pay

chapter 29|15 pages

Women and museums

chapter 30|2 pages

Common ground

part |1 pages

Part 5 Professionalism

chapter 31|6 pages

A new professionalism

chapter 32|10 pages

Scholarship or self-indulgence?

chapter 33|4 pages

Scholarship and the public

chapter 35|5 pages

Ethics: constructing a code

part |1 pages

Part 6 Codes of ethical conduct

chapter 36|6 pages

Tentative code of museum ethics

chapter 37|7 pages

Code of ethics for museums

chapter 38|17 pages

Code of professional ethics ICOM

chapter 39|12 pages

Code of conduct for museum professionals