Webinars hosted by Museum Study

Bradford Bredehoft • February 29, 2024

Past webinars are available on our YouTube Channel

Introductory slide for Museum Study Instructor Shannyn Palmer

Webinars are a new free service we are providing at Museum Study. Initially our webinars will be on topics related to the courses we offer and be presented by our instructors. They may be an introduction to a course topic, or a deep dive in to one of many topics covered in our courses. The webinars will give you a taste of what our courses are about and an opportunity to ask questions.

Our webinars are scheduled for an hour with 30-40 minutes of presentation followed by a question-and-answer period in the remaining time. We use Zoom to meet. Feel free to share your video and audio for the question-and-answer period and if you want live transcription just ask during the webinar. Our webinars are recorded and are available on our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/MuseumStudy

We held 6 webinars in 2023 from 5 different presenters.

Beyond checking the EEO box: Cultural Competency, the first step in DEIA, February 16, 2023 by Helen Wong Smith who leads our Cultural Competency course. Archivist and Librarian Helen Wong Smith currently the President-Elect of the Society of American Archivists discussed the importance of Cultural Competency as a business strategy to ensure our workforce reflects, represents, and is responsive to the communities with whom we collaborate and serve.

Don't Reinvent the Wheel: Using SAMR to Create Virtual Programs Inspired by your In-Person Programs, April 4, 2023 by Hillary Hanel Rose who leads our Creating Virtual Learning Opportunities in Museums course. Hillary Hanel Rose is an educator in both the museum field and K-16 education. She is passionate about creating meaningful and enjoyable learning opportunities, especially by connecting interdisciplinary topics through inquiry experiences. In this webinar Hillary discussed how to turn your in-person programs into virtual programs using the SAMR (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, Redefinition) Model.

Introduction to Collection Management Policies, May 16, 2023 by John Simmons who leads our Policies for Managing Collections course. John Simmons author of Things Great and Small: Collection Management Policies talked about what is a collections management policy (CMP), and why should all collecting institutions have one? This introductory webinar explains how written collection management policies can improve the management of both small and large collections, the basic steps to follow when preparing policies, and the core issues that should be addressed.

It's the Law! An Introduction to Legal Issues for Collecting Objects, June 1, 2023 by John Simmons who leads our Laws and Collections Management course. John Simmons discussed what you need to know about the legal issues that affect collecting? This introductory webinar introduces the concept of museum law and provides an overview of the most significant national (US) and international laws and regulations that apply to collecting for art, history, and natural history collections, and how these may impact the acquisition and accessioning of collection objects.

Risk-based approaches to preventive conservation: Which to choose for my situation?, September 16, 2023 by Robert Waller who along with Moya Dumville teaches our two courses on Assessing Risk to Cultural Property. Risk assessment and management approaches to preventive conservation were first suggested almost 35 years ago. Since then, numerous approaches have been developed, applied, and published. Three of the better-known approaches include Quiskscan, ABC, and the Cultural Property Risk Analysis Model (CPRAM). People unfamiliar with these may think that they are interchangeable, and each could have value in any given context. That is not true. Each of these approaches was developed within a specific context and for certain purposes. This presentation briefly describes each of these three approaches, and their strengths and limitations. Armed with this understanding, institutions and collection care professionals can decide which approach(es) they believe will be most beneficial for their situation. Make sure you choose an approach that will be a fit for your purpose.

Unmanaged Collections Talk, December 19, 2023 Angela Kipp held a Zoom chat to lay out her plans for the 2nd edition of her book and solicit feedback. Angela leads our course Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections. The new edition of Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections is in the making, but not done. In this event author Angela Kipp presented the plans for the new edition as well as being available for questions and answers. This will be your chance to share what worked and did not work when you were tackling your own collections. Let us hear your successes, struggles, conundrums, awesome findings, your tales of FICs and WTFs. No matter if you have worked with an unmanaged collection, are about to embark in tackling one, or are just generally interested in the topic, you are welcome to join us and contribute – or just watch and listen. The second edition of Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections of is due out in December of 2024.

In early February we kicked off our 2024 webinar series with Guiding principles: the foundation of a meaningful community engagement practice, February 6, 2024 by Shannyn Palmer who leads our Foundations of Community Engagement course. Terms such as ‘community engagement’, ‘collaboration’ and ‘co-creation’ are becoming increasingly common in cultural institutions and yet, the way in which they are used is often ill-defined and inconsistent. This works to dilute their meaning and can lead to tokenistic claims of collaboration that perpetuate the idea that community engagement is a box-ticking exercise, or something that can be tacked onto a project when it suits. Thoughtful consideration of the core values and principles that underpin and guide relationship building and collaboration is critical to the development of a meaningful community-engaged practice. In this webinar we explore the central role of guiding principles, not just as words, but as actions that embody core values and provide a roadmap for implementing an ethical, empowering, and meaningful community engagement practice.

Our next scheduled webinar will be May 14 by John Simmons and will be about new policy concerns addressed in the third edition of John’s book Things Great and Small which will be released in April 2024. Museums are confronting a wide array of unexpected challenges including managing digital information and objects, preparing collections for sudden temporary closure, new risks due to climate change, developing sustainable collection care practices, decolonization and repatriation, caring for larger collections with fewer staff members, and operating in an increasingly globalized museum environment. This presentation will consider how these and other issues can be addressed through the development of collection management policies and careful resource allocation.

Do you have any ideas for a webinar topic or presenter? Please let us know. You can reach us at Webinar@MuseumStudy.com

To access our past webinars and see what webinars are coming you can visit our Webinar page and follow us on social media to hear about all our upcoming webinars and courses. (Links below)

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Focus on what you CAN do, not what you CAN’T

April 15, 2025

In these past few weeks it seems that there were so many horrible things happening that just making a list of them feels overwhelming and exhausting. Some of the decisions of the current U.S. government have an impact on the global level, others hit people personally, some of whom are close friends. And then, there are those who seem to target the very core of our profession, like the shutting down of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the termination of grants already awarded by the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH). It is hard not to lose all hope in this climate. And yet, aren’t we, as museum professionals, used to things not really looking pretty? Haven’t we battled budget and staff cuts before? Haven’t we brought uncomfortable truths in front of the eyes of our visitors and politicians before? Maybe the current crisis is not comparable to what we were confronted with before. But just as well, we are well trained in going against adversarial circumstances. We have always done so with resilience, creativity, and, most of all, a sense of community. We might be spread out across the world and we might have spread ourselves thin by taking on too many responsibilities, but we are not alone. I have reached out to my network over the past few days to check in on some people, see how they are coping, and getting ideas of what can be done, because, in the end, focusing on what can’t be done never made anything better. What Can We Do? 1. Apply the lessons that museums learned from Covid A museum should have a plan for suddenly shutting down or having to reduce staff for a prolonged long period of time. The plan should include cross-training for all staff so that a reduced staff can keep the institution functioning and care for the collections. Every staff member should be trained to do tasks that are normally not part of their duties so that they can help in the event of a prolonged emergency. The plan should include what the museum can do to remain a destination for visitors during a crisis. This might include regulating the number of visitors in the museum at the any one time during a pandemic, reducing or eliminating admission fees for visitors during a prolonged financial crisis, and how responsibilities could be handled by a reduced staff. It is worth noting that a recent study revealed that art museums that charge admission spend an average of $100 per visitor but attract smaller audiences than free museums, and that there are costs associated with collecting admission fees that may not be recovered by the fee. Details can be found at https://news.artnet.com/art-world/us-museums-visitors-report-2622358) . 2. Prepare the collections for long-term, low maintenance storage by preparing the most sustainable and passive storage environment possible: Improve the effectiveness of the collection storage furniture, containers, and supports to protect the collections (e.g., replace gaskets on doors, eliminate acidic materials, reduce lighting and UV in storage). Keep the collection in order (each object in its proper place in storage) at all times (do not allow a backlog of out-of-place objects to build up). Improve environmental controls and environmental monitoring procedures. Maintain storage environment equipment in good order (e.g. replace filters, service equipment regularly, replace aging HVAC systems). 3. Protect the databases Make sure that you have a fully up-to-date, readable copy of all important museum databases stored somewhere outside of the building, preferably in a hard format as well as electronic. Make sure that both on-site and off-site databases are protected so they cannot be accessed by unauthorized personnel. Renew passwords and other project on a frequent, regular basis. If the institution is forced to close, and you have a good backup copy, consider removing databases from the museum servers to protect confidential information. When possible look into storing backup copies of your databases that are not only readable in a proprietary format of one vendor (who might be forced to hand your sensitive data over or might go out of business). If you database allows for it, export your important data as SQL tables or as comma separated values (.csv). Excel formats such as xlsx, xls, or ods are fine, too. When possible move your sensitive data to trusted servers outside the U.S. that don’t belong to U.S. based companies who might be forced to hand your sensitive data over or delete your data. As a rule of thumb: make access to your data for your trusted staff as easy as possible, but make deleting data from your database hard by setting up a robust rights management and whenever possible enable procedures to revert to earlier data entry points. 4. Update the institutional emergency preparedness plan to include procedures for coping with sudden, prolonged shutdowns of the building. 5. Stock up on critical supplies 6. Download anything needed from federal websites (such as the NPS Museum Handbook and Conserve O Grams or IMLS reports) immediately, while the information is still available. Store this data in a safe place that is only accessible to authorized personnel and make deleting those resources as hard as possible. 7. Keep in mind that most serious problem going forward will probably not be the cuts in federal funding to the NIH, NEA, NSF, IMLS, etc., because most of this money goes to projects which can be postponed or funded by other sources (such as donations). The most serious problem will be the lack of funds resulting from damage done to the economy due to a combination of the rising deficit, increasing unemployment (e.g., the mass reductions in the federal workforce and corresponding loss of jobs in sectors that serve the federal workforce), and decreased tax revenues due to tax cuts for the wealthy, tariffs on imports, and cuts to social services. In other words, the predicted problems with the US economy are far more likely to be a bigger problem for museums than the loss of federal grant funds. 8. Reach out to your community and build strong networks Let your community know that you need their support now more than ever. Let them know that most small museums in their immediate area do not get federal funds directly, but do get support from their state humanities councils. Membership for these museums is usually less than $30 a year and they put the money to good use. If you have lost funding from IMLS or NEH, let your community know. Here’s an example from a small museum explaining exactly what was lost: “The termination of the NEH grant award and the loss of $25,000 are devastating for the Weston History & Culture Center. This funding was going to support our upcoming permanent exhibit…” The people caring about your museum can write to and phone their representatives to let them know they are not okay with what is happening right now. Words of Cheer: Museums existed long before the IMLS and other federal granting agencies, so they can survive this period, although many worthy projects and much research will be halted unless alternative funding can be found. With preparation, museums can survive the coming crisis as they have survived other crises. There will be staff reductions and loss of opportunities, but with any luck, the situation will change within a few years. Take a good look at your policies and procedures and investigate new laws and executive orders you are confronted with. Laws that are passed in a great hurry often contain contradictions and loopholes. Often asking for clarifications by authorities can slow processes down and work to your advantage. Often stalling a process in good faith can be much more effective than open opposition which puts you and your staff at risk. Be prepared to be patient. Lawsuits and judicial decisions challenging the proposed changes will take time to go through the courts. In the longer term, climate change and its effects on museum operations, the economy, and the behavior of the public is the greatest challenge to the future of museums, so the present crisis should be used to prepare for the future. Best Advice: If your institution does not have a plan for long-term survival during a financial crisis, the next pandemic, or climate change, get busy now to correct this deficit. Helpful Information Learnings museums made from the Covid-19 pandemic, https://www.ne-mo.org/news-events/article/learnings-museums-made-from-the-covid-19-pandemic PEAS Resource Library (Promoting Exhibit Access and Safety), https://ncp.si.edu/PRICE-PEAS Snider, Julianne. 2024. The Wheel is Already Invented: Planning for the Next Crisis. Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 20(2):347-359, DOI: 10.1177/15501906241232309 Living in a Wild Future (Center for the Future of Museums blog), https://www.aam-us.org/2025/03/04/living-in-a-wild-future/ Decrease in Public Funding? A Worldwide Answer from Museums (ICOM), https://icom.museum/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/IRAPFM-A4-Format_FINAL.pdf Susana Smith Bautista (2021) — How to Close a Museum. A Practical Guide (Rowman & Littlefield) Here is an additional list of resources in case you have to close down your institution: https://world.museumsprojekte.de/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/ResourcesMuseumsClosing.pdf Christopher J. Garthe (2023) — The Sustainable Museum. How Museums Contribute to the Great Transformation (Routledge) Some more notes Share this resource freely with anyone you think needs to see this, no need to ask for permission. Add what applies to your special case. Let us know what we should add. Download, save, print, circulate. Download List as PDF

2024 Schedule

By Bradford Bredehoft • January 19, 2024

First webinar of 2024

Did you know?

By Bradford Bredehoft • August 31, 2023

Managing Previously Unmanaged Collections - Revisited, revised, revamped!

By Angela Kipp • April 21, 2023

What do you want to see in it?

New Year New Programs at Museum Study

By Bradford Bredehoft • December 20, 2022

In this issue We introduce our new instructor Shannyn Palmer, release the preliminary 2023 schedule including our Storage Techniques course in January and Shannyn’s new course Foundations of Community Engagement in April, we celebrate the first participants to complete the FREE self-paced course Introduction to the Agents of Deterioration , announce our new free webinar series and finally list some course ideas we are looking to find instructors to lead.