A project at the University of California at Berkeley is aimed at creating computerized catalogs of special collections throughout the institution, from departments to museums, to improve access for both scholars and laypeople. The project combines imaging and text records. Eventually, 80 or more collections may be included. (MSE)

Describes the 1991 "West as America" exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art, which sought to expose the complicity of art in maintaining a glorious national history while ignoring the dark side. Discusses the consequent controversies and the role of the museum as temple versus forum. (SV)

Describes the design and development of EmbARK, a computer application designed to handle art collections management for use by museums, educational institutions, businesses, and individuals, which links together various facets of managing objects in an easy-to-use client server application. Topics discussed include digital imaging; museum…

The Milwaukee Public Museum's new exhibit presents a cultural and historical overview of American Indian adaptation and survival from the earliest peopling of the Americas to the present. Wisconsin Indians have been heavily involved in the development of the exhibit, particularly a contemporary area portraying a modern intertribal powwow. (SV)

Didactic space for education within art museums is explored, and the development of four such areas in the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa) is traced. Evaluation of the resulting Theme Rooms through observations of and interviews with 112 patrons will increase their appeal and potential for education. (SLD)

Develops a mixed-format measure of teacher perceptions of the effectiveness of a school-tours program. Describes the development and composition of the measure, evaluates its reliability level, and presents validity evidence. Reports that data support the reliability and validity of the measure as a reflection of teacher perceptions. (DSK)

Discusses learning environments for informal science learning and points out the importance of an environment on student learning. Suggests several tips for field trip organization and accessing learning materials. (YDS)

The Philadelphia-Camden Informal Science Education Collaborative Family Learning Project (PISEC) is comprised of three phases aimed at increasing understanding of family learning in science museums. Describes the results of a formative evaluation conducted during phase two. Successful family-learning exhibits include characteristics such as:…

Based on Pierre Bourdieu's work on power as symbolic violence, examines business planning's pedagogical function in Alberta, Canada's museum and cultural heritage sites. Control involves redirecting work and changing producers' identity and work understandings via construction of markets, consumers, and products. Control was achieved by pedagogic…

Describes activities that link classroom science to real world scientific ventures. Uses field trips to zoos or wildlife centers for in-depth learning experiences that help students observe, investigate, and explore issues in animal science. (SAH)

Discusses access to editorial cartoons, including the importance and worth of editorial cartoons; sources, including newspapers, museums, and special cartoon collections; indexing and classification; subject access; indexing by illustrator and subject; technology and access, including digital data; access to special collections; and access to…

This planned session discusses access to digital multimedia objects; integrated intellectual access, resource discovery, finding aids, and cross-domain metadata among museum, archive, and library information systems; information sharing; electronic access to a historic costume collection; access to digital music libraries; and digital…

These six articles discuss collection level descriptions. Highlights include cross-domain issues; archive standards and automation issues; museum considerations, including metadata and Web pages, based on the Canadian Heritage Information Network; data standards for directories; electronic libraries in the United Kingdom; and the Research…

Discusses the development of a living museum of history project in a middle school classroom, noting the pedagogical foundations for such instruction and the students' process of creating their exhibits. Presents sample worksheets for developing and evaluating exhibits. (JPB)

The first section describes visual and aural reading strategies for a women's literacy class, using literary analysis of a poem. The second recounts the same group's experience writing persuasive letters or short reports based on a museum visit, which enabled hands-on learning and integration of local and student knowledge. (SK)