Many museums have been critically characterized as elitist institutions that offer few inclusive services to meet the needs and interests of marginalized populations and communities (Hill, 2016; Sandell and Nightingale, 2013). Some museums, however, are turning to visitor-centered approaches that refocus their efforts to concentrate on the needs and interests of visitors instead of the objects on display (Love and Boda, 2017; Weil, 1999). One population often overlooked by museums-adult visitors with developmental disabilities-served as the primary participant group for this qualitative bricolage case study along with their parents or caregivers and museum staff members. Using disability studies as a guiding framework, participants collaborated with the researcher and museum staff members to document their museum experiences through inclusive art-making, interviews, discussions, and observations. The purpose of this research was to explore how such collaborations might create more inclusive and visitor-centered museum experiences for these visitors. Findings were used to make recommendations for future programing and consisted of several themes developed during the coding process. The themes included understanding, accessibility, interactive, collaboration, communication, and evaluation.

What does the transformation to a visitor-centered approach do for a museum? How are museums made relevant to a broad range of visitors of varying ages, identities, and social classes? Does appealing to a larger audience force museums to "dumb down" their work? What internal changes are required? Based on a multi-year Kress Foundation-sponsored study of 20 innovative American and European collections-based museums recognized by their peers to be visitor-centered, Peter Samis and Mimi Michaelson answer these key questions for the field. The book describes key institutions that have opened the doors to a wider range of visitors; addresses the internal struggles to reorganize and democratize these institutions; uses case studies, interviews of key personnel, Key Takeaways, and additional resources to help museum professionals implement a visitor-centered approach in collections-based institutions

Designing Museum Experiences is a “how-to” book for creating visitor-centered museums that emotionally and intellectually connect with museum visitors, stakeholders, and donors. Museums are changing from static, monolithic, and encyclopedic institutions to institutions that are visitor-centric, with shared authority that allows museum and visitors to become co-creators in content creation. Museum content is also changing, from static content to dynamic, evolving content that is multi-cultural and transparent regarding the evolution of facts and histories, allowing multi-person interpretations of events. Designing Museum Experiences leads readers through the methods and tools of the three stages of a museum visit (Pre-visit, In-Person Visit, and Post-visit), with a goal of motivating visitors to return and revisit the museum in the future. This museum visitation loop creates meaningful intellectual, emotional, and experiential value for the visitor. Using the business-world-proven methodologies of user centered design, Museum Visitor Experience leads the reader through the process of creating value for the visitor. Providing consistent messaging at all touchpoints (website, social media, museum staff visitor services, museum signage, etc.) creates a trusted bond between visitor and museum. The tools used to increase understanding of and encourage empathy for the museum visitor, and understand visitor motivations include: Empathy Mapping, Personas, Audience segmentation, Visitor Journey Mapping, Service Design Blueprints, System Mapping, Content Mapping, Museum Context Mapping, Stakeholder Mapping, and the Visitor Value Proposition. In the end, the reason for using the tools is to empower visitors and meet their emotional and intellectual needs, with the goal of creating a lifelong bond between museum and visitor. This is especially important as museums face a new post COVID-19 reality; only the most nimble, visitor-centered museums are likely to survive. The companion website to Designing Museum Experiences features: Links to additional visitor-centered museum information Downloadable sample documents and templates Bibliography of sources for further reading Online glossary of museum visitor experience terms Daily checklists of “how-to” provide and receive visitor-centered experiences More than 50 associated Designing Museum Experiences documents

Museum and other non-profit professionals have begun to realize that the complete visitor experience is the key to repeat attendance, successful fundraising, and building audience loyalty. Taking lessons learned by successful experience-shapers in the for-profit world, Stephanie Weaver distills this knowledge for museums and other organizations which depend on visitor satisfaction for success. Is your institution welcoming? Are the bathrooms clean? Does the staff communicate well? Are there enough places to sit? These practical matters may mean more to creating a loyal following than any exhibit or program the institution develops. Weaver breaks the visitor experience down to 8 steps and provides practical guidance to museums and related institutions on how to create optimal visitor experiences for each of them. In a workshop-like format, she uses multiple examples, exercises, and resource links to walk the reader through the process.

If a museum is trying to improve visitor satisfaction, grow and diversify their audience, or engage with their community, they must focus on the experience visitors have inside the museum. Unfortunately, some people don’t visit museums because they have had a previous negative experience, or they simply don’t feel museums are for people like them. Not only do we need to win back those who we haven’t welcomed properly in the past, we need to be sure we don’t turn off any more potential visitors. Once you’ve decided to prioritize the visitor experience, you may discover that you don’t have the tools you need to truly implement change for your visitors. An Executive Director may support the concept but doesn’t have the time or specific expertise to implement a new program. A Visitor Services Manager may have been promoted from the front line and has great customer service and coaching skills but doesn’t have experience crafting institutional change. Creating Great Visitor Experiences: A Guide for Museum Professionals can help these museum professionals design a program that is specific to their institution. Its Table of Contents shows how the book offers a step-by-step guide to doing just that: Chapter 1: Focus on the Visitor Experience Chapter 2: Understanding Museum Visitors and the Impact of the Visitor Experience Chapter 3: Learning About Your Visitors Chapter 4: Visitor Mapping: Charting Visitor Routes Through Your Institution Chapter 5: Start with the Basics: Making the Museum Itself Welcoming Chapter 6: Articulating What Service Means to You Chapter 7: Determining the Structure of Your Front-Line Team Chapter 8: Merging Security and Service Chapter 9: Hiring Your Dream Team Chapter 10: Training to Develop a Dynamic Service Team Chapter 11: Building Strong Morale and a Professional Front-Line Team Chapter 12: Developing a Culture of Service Throughout the Museum Use this authoritative, practical guide from the American Alliance of Museums to help your museum create great visitor experiences.

Few perspectives have invigorated the development of critical museum studies over the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries as much as Foucault’s account of the relations between knowledge and power and their role in processes of governing. Within this literature, Tony Bennett’s work stands out as having marked a series of strategic engagements with Foucault’s work to offer a critical genealogy of the public museum, offering an account of its nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century development that has been constantly alert to the politics of museums in the present. Museums, Power, Knowledge brings together new research with a set of essays initially published in diverse contexts, making available for the first time the full range of Bennett’s critical museology. Ranging across natural history, anthropological art, geological and history museums and their precursors in earlier collecting institutions, and spanning the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries in discussing museum practices in Britain, Australia, the USA, France and Japan, it offers a compelling account of the shifting political logics of museums over the modern period. As a collection that aims to bring together the ‘signature’ work of a museum theorist and historian whose work has long occupied a distinctive place in museum/society debates, Museums, Power, Knowledge will be of interest to researchers, teachers and students working in the fields of museum and heritage studies, cultural history, cultural studies and sociology, as well as museum professionals and museum visitors.

What if museums could harness the emotional and intellectual connections people have to personal and everyday objects to create richer visitor experiences? In this book, Elizabeth Wood and Kiersten Latham present the Object Knowledge Framework, a tool for using objects to connect museum visitors to themselves, to others, and to their world. They discuss the key concepts underpinning our lived experience of objects and how museums can learn from them. Then they walk readers through concrete methods for transforming visitor-object experiences, including exercises and strategies for teams developing exhibit themes, messages, and content, and participatory experiences.