There’s no one model for libraries, archives and museums to coexist and interact. Each entity can be a stand-alone repository, a mixture of two entities, or contain all three entities. Library, Archive, and Museum (LAM) professionals are trained in organizing and categorizing items in their respective collections. Since this is their specialty they’ve applied the same principles to classify LAM entities separately, due to the LAM's slightly different functions and collection materials.

Grant writing can be a complicated and intensive process. Each grant application will have a different emphasis and process to follow, and if you’re new to grant writing, it can be intimidating. While all grants are different, there are aspects that remain the same. From the dozens of grants I’ve written, read, and edited, I’ve compiled the top 8 tips to a bulletproof proposal.

The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is the largest art museum in Atlantic Canada; it is an agency of the Province of Nova Scotia and one of the premier arts institutions in Canada. The Gallery is a gateway for the visual arts in Atlantic Canada and is responsible for acquiring, preserving and exhibiting works of art, and for providing education in the visual arts. They manage their collections with Argus.

Through working with granting agencies, providing grant reviews, and writing grants with museums and archives, I’ve seen a specific set of mistakes museum professionals make all the time. I’ve even made some of them myself. I want museums to be stronger applicants and am here to share the most common museum grant pitfalls to know and avoid.

In my work as a museum, library, and archives consultant, I’ve had a great amount of exposure to the fundraising world. Money is so often needed in order to meet museum missions, and grants are often a popular way to secure funding. Through my role as a grant writer and reviewer, I’ve decoded the top four museum funding ideas that are often well received by granting agencies.

In his Adweek article, Millennials are Discovering Art by Ditching Museums for Instagram and Pinterest, Robert Klara asserts that “social media has nudged museums aside as the primary venue by which American consumers discover works of art.” Don’t let your museum be nudged aside!

Photo: David Ohmer

Many of our Argus clients are feeling inspired by the achievements of Thomas P. Campbell, director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, who among many things, is an advocate for digitizing museum content and publishing online exhibits.

Due to popular demand, we are reprising a webinar presented by museum evangelist and strategist Nina Simon, where she drew upon research for her book, The Art of Relevance, and offered substantive, creative, and inspiring advice on how to increase your organization’s relevance to communities you hope to engage. Join us on February 2nd and see how Nina’s advice applies whether you work in a library, a museum, a theater, a park, an academic institution or a corporation.

We recently offered a webinar presented by museum evangelist and strategist Nina Simon, where she drew upon research for her book, The Art of Relevance, and offered substantive, creative, inspiring and practical advice on how to increase your organization’s relevance to the communities you hope to engage. Interestingly, in Nina’s role as speaker, she offers advice that applies whether you work in a library, a museum, a theater, a park, an academic institution or a corporation. It’s all relevant.

We will be offering a free webinar on November 15th that promises a substantive and thoughtful discussion full of creative, inspiring and practical advice on how to increase your organization’s relevance to the communities you hope to engage.

The great thing about using your Collections Management System (CMS) to increase audience awareness and drive museum traffic is that it’s easy to do and you don’t have to buy anything. What could be better than that?

I love the creativity now enhancing museums’ physical space. It gives me huge comfort to know that museums are on the forefront of creating experiences designed to inspire awe and wonder. A favorite of mine is the “Levitated Mass” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Most of us don’t buy software very often. In fact, unless you are a senior Information Technology Manager, you may do so only a couple of times in your career. The most common software selection problems are easily avoided with a little advance planning.

Can disappearing texts, images and videos increase the visibility of your museum? As strange as it sounds, the answer is “yes.” Trying to attract potential visitors? Reach them via smartphone—with mobile video. If you want to create the ultimate museum experience sample, virtual reality can take your advertising to another dimension.

Social media platforms offer a game-changing opportunity for museums to broaden their reach and connect interesting and inspiring collections with potential visitors and donors. With social media, word of mouth spreads at the speed of light, effectively crowd-sourcing museum marketing.

Social media, email, photography and video are continuing to drive adoption of mobile devices. Why not leverage this trend to increase the visibility of your museum’s content and improve collection management efficiency?

My old Webster’s Dictionary defines innovation as:
1)  the introduction of something new
2)  a new idea, method, or device: novelty

My own definition is simpler: a new or better way of reaching a goal.

When I think of innovation in a museum context, I think about the new and exciting ways that museums are reaching out to the community. Certainly the traditional still works: public programs continue to inspire repeat visits to the museum, and the work that museum educators do with schools continues to make new museum visitors out of children who, without these programs, may never be taken to a museum.