News From amh

Having spent the last few months working with Museum, Library and Archive organisations, the knowledge and passion for the management of collections and services I’ve come across means I’m clear about how little I know.   So much for me. 

As far as the institutions go, they are amazing in their comfort zones of objects, records and baby-rhyme-times but they get seriously weak when it comes to communicating that offer and know less about their customers than your average cornershop.   This really bothers me.  Not one to shy from a big metaphor when I feel one is needed – I’m calling for a Copernican Revolution – a shift in knowledge that changes the centre of our solar-system.    

Let’s recognise collections and services for what they are: mere satellites of the big hot ball at the epicentre of cultural value – the public. By shirking off the limits of ‘customer focus’ through developing data capture and making applied use of market intelligence, our sector could lead in making collections and services conduits for creating new data, information and knowledge about persons and the public. Creating institutions which use this knowledge to drive missions, create viable businesses and enliven advocacy would revolutionise the standing of the cultural sector.