Systems Thinking in Museums: Theory and Practice

✍ Scribed by Yuha Jung (editor), Ann Rowson Love (editor)

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
• Year: 2017
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 266
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Systems Thinking in Museums explores systems thinking and the practical implication of it using real-life museum examples to illuminate various entry points and stages of implementation and their challenges and opportunities. Its premise is that museums can be better off when they operate as open, dynamic, and learning systems as a whole as opposed to closed, stagnant, and status quo systems that are compartmentalized and hierarchical. This book also suggests ways to incorporate systems thinking based on reflective questions and steps with hopes to encourage museum professionals to employ systems thinking in their own museum. Few books explore theory in practice in meaningful and applicable ways; this book offers to unravel complex theories as applied in everyday practice through examples from national and international museums.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents
Foreword • Marsha L. Semmel
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I: About Systems Thinking in Museums
1 Systems Thinking and Museum Ecosystem • Yuha Jung and Ann Rowson Love
2 Mapping the Museum Universe: A Systems Approach • Neville K. Vakharia
Part II: Systems Thinking and Museum Functions
3 Dr. Seuss, Systems, and Digital Strategies: Making Sense of Systems Theory as an Emerging Museum Professional • Victoria Eudy
4 Paradigms, Visitor-Centered Museum Practices, and Systems Thinking • Pat Villeneuve and Juyeon Song
Take Action
Part III: Systems Thinking in Management and Leadership
5 Intentional Practice: A Way of Thinking, A Way of Working • Randi Korn
6 Leadership in the Networked Museum: Systems Thinking at Museums Victoria • Patrick Greene, Paul Bowers, and Kathy Fox
Take Action
Part IV: Systems Thinking in Personnel Management
7 Enterprise Risk Management and Talent Management as Vehicles for a Sustainable Museum • Amy Gilman and Lynn Miller
8 Planning for Cultural Relevance: A Systems Workshop at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum • Douglas Worts
Take Action
Part V: Systems Thinking in Exhibitions and Programs
9 Managing Exhibit Development in a Fluid Environment • Caroline Angel Burke and Monica Parker-James
10 We Built an Island • Deborah Randolph and Cora Fisher
Take Action
Part VI: Systems Thinking in External Communications
11 Behind Closed Doors: The Uses of Social Media in Museum Transformation and Development Projects • Jonathan Paquette and Robin Nelson
12 The Evaluation of Public Goods: Systems Thinking in the Caseof Circuito Liberdade • Ana Flávia Machado, Diomira M. C. P. Faria, Sibelle C. Diniz, Bárbara F. Paglioto, Rodrigo C. Michel, and Gabriel Vaz de Melo
Take Action
Part VII: Systems Thinking in Community Engagement
13 The Museum as a Catalyst of Social Development: Best Practicesto Engage the Community • Guido Ferilli, Sendy Ghirardi, and Pier Luigi Sacco
14 Systems Thinking for Visitor-Centered, Community-Engaged Interpretive Planning • Swarupa Anila, Amy Hamilton Foley, and Nii Quarcoopome
Take Action
Part VIII: Systems Thinking in Fundraising and Financial Sustainability
15 The Application of Systems Thinking to Museum Sustainability • Susan Mann
16 Sustainable Fundraising in the Twenty-First Century: Behind the Scenes of the Global Guggenheim Success • Natalia Grincheva
Take Action
Part IX: Systems Thinking in Physical Spaces
17 A Third Eye or a Third Space? Systems Thinking and Rethinking Physical Museum Spaces • Ann Rowson Love and Morgan Szymanski
18 Participative Design Processes for Museums • Tom Duncan
Take Action
Part X: Becoming a Learning Museum through Systems Thinking
19 Using Systems Thinking in Teaching Museum Studies • K. F. Latham and John E. Simmons
20 Toward a Learning Museum and Systems Intelligence • Yuha Jung
Index
About the Editors and the Contributors