Museum Services Research Articles

An Epidemiological Approach to Welfare Research in Zoos: The Elephant Welfare Project

Multi-institutional studies of welfare have proven to be valuable in zoos but are hampered by limited sample sizes and difficulty in evaluating more than just a few welfare indicators. To more clearly understand how interactions of husbandry factors influence the interrelationships among welfare outcomes, epidemiological approaches are needed as well as multifactorial assessments of welfare. Many questions have been raised about the housing and care of elephants in zoos and whether their environmental and social needs are being met in a manner that promotes good welfare. This article describes the background and rationale for a large-scale study of elephant welfare in North American zoos funded by the (U.S.) Institute of Museum and Library Services. The goals of this project are to document the prevalence of positive and negative welfare states in 291 elephants exhibited in 72 Association of Zoos and Aquariums zoos and then determine the environmental, management, and husbandry factors that impact elephant welfare. This research is the largest scale nonhuman animal welfare project ever undertaken by the zoo community, and the scope of environmental variables and welfare outcomes measured is unprecedented.

Older Adults and the Public Library: The Impact of the Boomer Generation

This article reports an investigation of older-adult services at fifty public libraries to determine if public libraries are providing services to the growing older-adult population and if any are guided by the American Library Association Guidelines for Older Adults 2008 and Institute of Museum and Library Services 2008 strategies for lifelong learning. The results indicate that few programs target older adults, although 74 percent offered lifelong learning opportunities. Thirty-two percent offered basic computer programs and less than 50 percent of the libraries provided assistive technologies. Future research should determine if other libraries provide for this diversified age group.

“People just need to feel important, like someone is listening”: Recognising museums’ community engagement programmes as spaces of care

This paper examines the ways in which spaces of care are produced within museums. In particular, this paper investigates community engagement, a relatively underexplored facet of museum practice in the UK. Community engagement is often understood as a way for museums to engage with those individuals, groups and communities who do not or cannot regularly visit museums. Goals for community engagement programmes range from the short-term, for example the creation of a body of knowledge around an object from a museum’s collection, through to the long-term, for example the cultivation of a relationship between local communities and the museums service. The paper draws upon a period of ethnographic research undertaken with Glasgow Museums – the city of Glasgow’s municipal museum service. I use the example of community engagement as a means of interrogating the spaces of care produced within museums. I argue that museums are ideal places within which to create caring spaces and yet clear problems arise when the caring that is done within museums is not recognised as such. I also argue that ideas about women’s ability to cultivate and sustain care relationships are reproduced in museum settings.

Masquerade Mosaic: Charles Partridge's Collection from Eastern Nigeria 1903–1913, by David Jones. Colchester: Ipswich Museum Service and London: British Museum, 2011. 192 pp., color and black/white Photographs, 4 maps, bibliography. 10, paper.

<b>Masquerade Mosaic: Charles Partridge's Collection from Eastern Nigeria 1903–1913</b>, by David Jones. Colchester: Ipswich Museum Service and London: British Museum, 2011. 192 pp., color and black/white Photographs, 4 maps, bibliography. 10, paper.

What Would You Do? If Heroes Were Not Welcome Home

Japanese American units were heavily decorated during World War II and recently recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal, offering military service as their families and friends were incarcerated in camps by the federal government. After the war, many residents of Hood River, Oregon, discouraged Japanese American families and veterans from returning home. Historian Linda Tamura, who grew up in Hood River, and former Oregon Historical Society (OHS) Director of Museum Services Marsha Takayanagi Matthews are crafting an exhibit about that history to accompany a display of the Congressional Gold Medal at OHS in August and September 2013. The exhibit will ask visitors to consider how they would act in a similar situation.

CRMS-World Legal Analysis and Resulting Workflow

This paper lays out the legal rationale and the process components for the Copyright Review Management System grant, which was funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services under their National Leadership Grant.

Risk Analysis and Sustainability

Strategic equipment shutdowns are common strategies for saving energy in buildings during unoccupied times. The Image Permanence Institute is testing whether it is possible to significantly reduce energy usage in libraries and other cultural institutions through carefully monitored and risk-managed shutdowns of air-handling units during unoccupied hours in select spaces without compromising the quality of the preservation environment. This paper concentrates on the identification and mitigation of risks and the decision-making process related to experimental shutdown procedures in the currently in-progress three-year project, federally funded in the United States by the Institute for Museum and Library Services. Potential risk factors are identified for candidate spaces and shutdown procedures, options for qualitative and quantitative analyses are presented, and potential benefits in both preservation quality and energy savings are described.

The Leamington Scow: the excavation of historic structures and canal vessel at Leamington Wharf, Union Canal, Edinburgh

Archaeological investigations were carried out at Leamington Wharf on the Union Canal in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh. The remains of a stone quay, wooden platforms and staging, a rope walk and a canal vessel were investigated prior to redevelopment of the site for housing. The combination of archaeological excavation and historical research has illuminated the development of this former canal basin at the terminus of the Union Canal, and provided a rare opportunity to study the remains of a canal vessel likely to date from the early to mid 19th century. A scaled model of the vessel was commissioned as part of the project and will be submitted to the local museum service as a record.

Improving Below-Proficient Information Literacy Skills: Designing an Evidence-Based Educational Intervention

This article describes the design and development of an educational intervention intended to improve information literacy skills based on research with first-year college students. The intervention was developed over the course of a three-year period, during which time grant funding was received from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), supporting the collection of research data on the learning needs of first-year college students who scored below proficient on a standardized information literacy test. A variety of empirical methods including tests, surveys, interviews, and focus groups were used to collect data. The resulting intervention is a modular session that can be used as a stand-alone presentation or incorporated into other information literacy interventions. The design of the intervention stresses three main research goals: orientation to information literacy as a skill set, improved ability to self assess skills, and the acquisition of at least one skill that demonstrates the utility of instruction. At the heart of the intervention is the three-step Analyze, Search, Evaluate (ASE) process model of information literacy, which is easy to remember, easy to adapt to multiple instructional situations, and can provide a foundation for building additional information literacy skills.

Design and Research of Digital-Museum Service System Based on VRML

Three-dimension scene simulation technology of virtual environment maybe widely applied in many fields such as city planning, tourist industry and virtual battlefield. The technique has been applied to the research of “Digital Museum” which can provide a new research topic in the today’s world. In allusion to the problem of Digital Museum GUI, Three-dimension Digital Museum modeling database and virtual scene is constructed through Maya; application environment is realized which using JAVA programming technique based on windows plat; some key technologies about how to realize the system are introduced, including building of 3D modeling databases, Multi-Texture based on Blaxxun/BS, Models simplification and validated them. The paper formed research and exploiting methods and technologies, which provide strong support of Digital Museum services system.

Understanding motivational constraints to membership at the Southbank Centre

The motivational construct has been explored from a variety of perspectives including products, services and the cultural industries. Motivational constraints and barriers however have been less explored and overlooked from customer behaviour and arts perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by exploring motivational constraints to cultural membership at the Southbank Centre (SBC) drawing on the marketing and leisure literature. Data were collected using an interpretive, qualitative approach and five focus groups were selected from Southbank Centre (SBC) bookers who are not members. The analysis of the respondent narratives reveals the complexity in exploring motivational barriers and led to the identification of four constraints including : 1) Structural: perceived as poor value for money and programme limitations; 2) Attitudinal: membership schemes are elitist and gentrified; 3) Lack of awareness: of the Southbank Centre's membership scheme; and the marketing communications for membership are confusing and unclear; and 4) Emotional and Aesthetic: lack of connection with the buildings' and brand identity. The non-members tend to uphold one constraint more resolutely than the other, signifying that motivational constraints are more complex than merely disliking a venue, or preferring an alternative one or perceiving the membership as poor value. This study contributes to understanding of customers in the field of motivational constraints in an arts context, as previous research has focussed on leisure or motivation for conducting behaviour rather than barriers. The results are discussed in the context of previous studies into museum consumption, services and leisure motivation and constraints literature. The authors discuss how these findings may be transferred to other settings and the managerial implications for understanding customer behaviour are considered.

The rights of the putti: a review of the literature on children as cultural citizens in art museums

Through a review of the scholarly and non-governmental organization (NGO) literature, this paper seeks to contribute to an emergent dialogue on the cultural citizenship of children in art museums. A comprehensive search of the current literature on this topic reveals a paucity of attention and understanding in this area, despite an increasing focus on children's services in art museums. In order to bridge this gap, the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is highlighted as an international vehicle for entrenching the participatory rights of children in cultural life and the Arts from birth. Lundy's model for participation based on ‘space, voice, audience and influence’ is interpreted for an art museum setting. Promoting children's cultural rights shapes museums into more democratic institutions; thereby activating the public art museum's founding principles.

Transforming the Internet Public Library into the ipl2 Virtual Learning Laboratory

The ipl2: Information You Can Trust Website was launched in January 2010. This article describes the merger of the Internet Public Library (IPL) and the Librarians' Internet Index that resulted in the ipl2, the transformation of the IPL into a virtual learning laboratory through an Institute for Museum and Library Services grant, and the ipl2 Institute on the Future of Reference and the Future of LIS Education, which was funded through the grant. The ipl2 staff, faculty, students, and volunteers continue to offer an important public service, including a digital collection and a question answering service within an educational and research environment.

An Exploratory Study to Develop an Alternative Model of Public Library Management Using the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Public Library Statistics

In this explorative study, we first investigate current use of public library statistics in public library management to identify a governing framework and then carefully suggest an alternative framework with income as a goal for sustainability. The meaning of income in terms of management is also discussed. Within this framework, we conduct a series of statistical analyses with public library statistics data for 2002–7. We first attempt to identify and control outside effects, such as service population and socioeconomic factors. After data screening and transformation, we conduct several statistical analyses, including factor and regression analyses. The significant results from regression analysis between income as a dependent variable and eleven independent variables provide evidence for the validity of the framework, with small effect size (14 percent). We discuss issues such as a linearity assumption, small effect size, and a unit period and offer suggestions for future studies to develop an alterna...

Leveraging the FRBR model for music discovery and data sharing

PurposeIn 2008, Indiana University received a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for a project entitled “Variations/FRBR: variations as a testbed for the FRBR conceptual model”. The V/FRBR initiative aims to provide a real world, production implementation in a music digital library system of the Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR) suite of reports from the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) that are being presented as revolutionizing library discovery systems. This paper seeks to examine this issue.Design/methodology/approachThis paper discusses the issues encountered in creating an interoperable data model that implements FRBR concepts. It uses the work of the V/FRBR initiative to describe how FRBR can be used in both a generic and a music‐specific environment.FindingsAn abstract data model representing FRBR at three levels of specificity (two generic and one music‐specific) is defined, along with its binding in XML and plans for expanding into an RDF representation into the future.Practical implicationsThe data model and its XML representation created by the V/FRBR project have the potential to be re‐used by other FRBR‐based cataloging and discovery systems in the future.Originality/valueWhile much discussion of FRBR has taken place in the library community, relatively little formal testing of FRBR‐ized data has been done, with even less widespread reporting of lessons learned. The V/FRBR project is among the first to share detailed information about the practical issues faced when implementing the FRBR models.

Arthropod types from Sparth Bottoms in the Howard Collection (Rochdale Museum Service)

Rochdale Museum Service holds a large collection of fossils from the important Carboniferous site of Sparth Bottoms (Lancashire, UK; Middle Coal Measures). Several of these are type specimens donated by Harold Howard in 1939. These objects were stored in the museum basement for several decades, and were thought to have been lost. The types are the holotype of the scorpion Eobuthus holtiPocock, 1911 and the holotype of the crustacean Anthrapalaemon grossarti var. holtiWoodward, 1911a. These species were not named after Howard, because the describers thought that Fred Holt was the rightful collector. The holotype of the myriapod Euphoberia woodwardiBaldwin, 1911 (put into synonymy with Palaeosoma robustumBaldwin, 1911) is known to have originally been in the collection, but was not located in a recent survey.

The story behind the painting

The BDA's Head of Museum Services Rachel Bairsto uncovers the comings and goings of a dental practice in the 1930s.

Victoria's accessories

Have you ever thought how nice it would be to wear an extracted wisdom tooth on a gold chain around your neck? According to the BDA's Head of Museum Services, Rachel Bairsto, memorial jewellery featuring teeth became popular in the nineteenth century.

IMPACT in Public Libraries: Initiative to Measure Personnel Assimilation of Computer-mediated Training

This article is a slightly modified version of the Final Report for Project RE-04-07-0033-07 issued by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). This report is published as a companion document to a methodological summary of the research on online library staff training on which the IMLS document is based. The report summarizes the project's goals, objectives, and accomplishments. The research was completed from October 1, 2007, to November 30, 2008.

Uncurated Curators, No. 3. Ronald Frederick Pickford (1920-2010): Bath curator, a Tribute

Ron Pickford (1920-2010) was given GCG 's first ever award in 1985, and then the Geologists' Association's sad first Halstead medal in 1991. He had been responsible (single-handed) for the rescue, and safe-guarding, of the important Museum collections (containing much vital geology - both of types and historical material) at the long-defunct Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, from 1960 until his retirement in 1985. By then the Group, and others, had caused enough of a stir to ensure that the Area Museum Service for the South West had taken over some control, and initiated a series of reports, and then a curator post. But Ron's career was a most unusual one; from very humble and troubled beginnings in Bath, he had been stimulated in the 1930s by these very collections, to take a serious, if both unqualified and unpaid, interest in geology. Then, soon after he was appointed to a post as "cleaner/custodian" in the Victoria Art Gallery and Library service in Bath, he saw the depredations which these collections were now suffering, and decided to try, unasked, to secure their future. As a woodworking craftsman, he could create or restore display cases, and, as a sensible and competent person, he could equally ensure that all possible documentation survived as well. He now deserves to be as carefully curated as the materials he rescued, and this paper is intended to record his life and origins, his service in the Royal Navy in WW2, and to provide a tribute to his memory, and record what lessons we can learn from what he, and his fine sense of humour, achieved in Bath.