ABSTRACT
When the journal Museums & Social Issues (MSI) journal was launched over five years ago, it was an effort from within the museum community to help refocus, or at least broaden, the work of museums. It reflected a belief amongst the organizers that museums need to build their public activities on a foundation of public relevancy that addresses the evolving needs and opportunities of a changing world. “Social issues” are manifestations of the forces that define a time and place and, therefore, offer museums focuses for achieving this goal. Far from being an isolated development, MSI was part of a phenomenon of self-directed change by museum professionals themselves. Many American Association of Museums publications helped prepare the soil for this type of journal, not the least of which were Museums for a New Century, Excellence and Equity: Education and the Public Dimension of Museums, and Mastering Civic Engagement: A Challenge to Museums. For several decades, there has been an atmosphere of change both within the museum profession and through external forces (often associated with the funding of museums). At the same time, the field of audience research has matured in very significant ways over the past 30 years—thereby providing museums with powerful visitor-based feedback loops with which to better plan for and judge the impacts of public programs. Yet, despite these developments, systemic tensions continue deep within museums—often revolving around conflicting views of the purposes of museums, the strategies being used to create cultural value for citizens, the measures for gauging the ‘success’ of museums, and the hierarchy of skills required to operate a museum effectively. It is within this environment that MSI continues to operate.
