Written by a museum professional and based on a course taught for many years, this engaging and accessible volume provides a unique insider's guide to what museums are and how they operate.

This text charts the development of the anti-museum as a concept and as it has been realised in practice. Drawing on a range of case studies, including the New Museum and PS1 in New York, Mona in Australia, Art42 in Paris and Donald Judd's Marfa, the book assesses their potential to engage museum publics in new ways.

This title combines perspectives from different practitioners to reflect on the status and meaning of art programs in science centres and museums around the world. Presenting theoretical perspectives, reflections, and case-studies, this volume gives voice to a wide range of professional practitioners.

This title explores the boundaries of museums, as well as the ways external relationships are affected by internal commitments, structures, and traditions. Focusing on museums' relationship with health, inclusion, and community, the book provides a detailed assessment of the alliances between museums and stakeholders in contemporary settings.

This title adopts a presentist outlook that challenges the idea of the museum as having been formed in the past, being controlled by its collections, following tradition, or being shaped to meet some future ideal. In doing so, the book recognises that the actions of the museum must not be determined by professional or institutional creed, but by contemporary social need.

This updated second edition reference work looks at recent developments in the field internationally and in terms of new theories and practices.

This text explores new research and practice in museum design. Placing a specific emphasis on social responsibility, this book emphasises the need for a greater understanding of the impact of museum design in the experiences of visitors, in the manifestation of the vision and values of museums and galleries, and in the shaping of civic spaces for culture in our shared social world.

Beyond their often beautiful exhibition halls, many museums contain vast, hidden spaces in which objects may be stored, conserved, or processed. Museums can also include unseen archives, study rooms, and libraries which are inaccessible to the public. This collection of essays focuses on this domain, an area that has hitherto received little attention.