While QR codes (also known as Quick Response codes) have been around since 1994, it took nearly 26 years to reach the mass adoption of them across industries that began when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. Between 2018 and 2020 alone, there was a …
Harvesting the Cloud for a 21st Century Museum
Cloud-based technology solutions designed specifically for museums and collecting institutions are now widely available. Many companies have developed a variety of options designed to facilitate patrons’ and community members’ digital access to museum collections. This new technology is an answer to museums’ calls for online …
Understanding Museum Collections Management Acronyms: DAM, MAM, CMS
Organizing, managing, and cataloging collections is among a museum’s central—and often most challenging—missions. Ideally, a museum collections management system is user-friendly and perfectly suited to the tasks a museum wishes it to perform. A database system should be compatible with, and help to enact a …
Three Pandemic Lessons In Archive Digitization To Continue
Over the last several years, every industry has innovated to remain solvent and relevant. Most workplaces that moved from brick-and-mortar offices into virtual spaces and venues found ways to engage with visitors and new audiences on virtual platforms. These transitions have been incredibly difficult for …
What To Look For In A Museum Consulting Firm
Museums and arts institutions are often challenged to secure the resources necessary to pursue new initiatives. Despite being anchor institutions and employers in many of their communities, museums have experienced both long-term budget shortfalls and temporary budget slashes. Even without the effects of unprecedented events …
Can Your Museum Take Its Collections Digital?
As a museum director or curator, you know the value of your collections, in terms of both historical significance and emotional impact on your visitors. Digitizing your existing collections can make them accessible to more people in more places so that their value can be …
How one museum got over 45,000 items out of storage, published to the web, and discoverable
Did you know that on average, over 95% of most museums’ collections are not on public display at any given time? With so many historic and important objects in storage held in the “public trust,” museums everyday are faced with the question of how to …
Lean In and Let Go: Creative Team Building in Small Museums
By Dr. Stephanie Fuglaar Statz, Senior Historian My first day as director of a very small museum in a rural town was unlike any first day I had ever had. There was a quick human resources meeting, and I got the keys to the museum. …
Planning Successful Virtual Interpretive Workshops and Visioning Sessions
By Scott Vierick, Historian While the COVID-19 pandemic has sent shockwaves through the museum world, it has also offered an opportunity for sites to reevaluate programming, exhibits, and major interpretive themes. With many sites closed or operating at reduced capacity, leaders have time to connect …