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According to what a museum offers and how it is set up can make or break its attractive
atmosphere. While museums of the past used to be known for their stale displays of preserved
artifacts, today museum culture is shifting toward a more interactive culture of education and
entertainment. In his paper, Methodology for Design of Online Exhibits,Antoniou Angeliki
said it best:
One has to take into account that during the past years, museums have moved from
preserving and displaying artifacts to institutions focused on the education and
entertainment of visitors. At the same time visitors also report that one of the main
reasons they visit physical or online museums is learning, together with entertainment
and socialisation5. To this end, museum curators strive to design and implement
exhibitions that offer an educational and at the same time enjoyable experience. These
principles apply to both physical and online environments; according to the above, the
education discipline is rendered directly relevant to the design of online exhibitions.1
Through incorporating electronic devices, or completely providing exhibits online, museums are
providing more opportunity for user involvement, support for specific populations, positive
collaboration opportunities, and personalized content.
Museums may also use certain preservation strategies unique to their institution because
of environmental factors, budget, or nature of the building. How a museum chooses to preserve,
display, and transport its items depends on such unique factors which create a certain culture or
atmosphere. While many museum buildings have climate control available, some still rely on the
dry air in the basement for storage, or on window coverings to protect displays. Additionally, the
way in which an information institution provides outreach to the community also is a reflection
of its culture. Depending on whether the center uses electronic media, offers face-to-face
informational sessions, discussions, or even performance, the museum responds to and further

1 Angeliki Antoniou, George Lepouras, and Costas Vassilakis, Methodology for

Design of Online Exhibitions, DESIDOC Journal of Library & Information Technology,
33, no. 3 (May 2013): 158-167.

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reaffirms its character. An institution with the budget for electronic outreach typically brings
larger numbers of guests, while smaller centers rely on more inventive ideas for publicity.
Depending on whether an informational or cultural institution is based entirely on the
internet, uses mixed physical and electronic resources, or designs exhibits electronically impacts
its museum culture. Electronic exhibits allow easier access for a larger audience. Electronic tools
have been rather favorable in creating exhibits and in exhibits themselves. These interactive
approaches allow various communities to navigate otherwise potentially inaccessible information
and adds a much more positive learning environment. For those of limited means, an electronic
exhibit which can be accessed from home provides the most opportunity for discovery. To the
curator, incorporating electronic mediums to further improve the exhibits often produces positive
results. One type of strategy for improving an exhibit is accepting feedback from the public. As
Antoniou stated, integrating an electronic presence allows the creator to improve the work
drastically because of the opportunity to receive feedback from users through e-surveys.2 Online
surveys now make such user involvement more readily available to keep curators constantly
aware of the positives and shortcomings of their design. The user then becomes involved in the
exhibit from the beginning.
Not only do electronic tools help enhance the user experience, but they better the
attitudes of museum curators as well. For the designer, electronic tools add support in
communication and collaboration between faculty members which increase productivity. With
ease, creators of an exhibit are able to share, edit, and improve their work in a more convenient
fashion. This suggests a change in the general atmosphere of the workplace. As Martin Hecher
states in his article, Tangible Culture - Designing Virtual Exhibitions on Multi-Touch

2 Antoniou, Methodology for Design of Online Exhibitions.

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Devices, eXhibition:editor3D, an exhibit application, has encouraged discussion among

curators.3 Its simple interface rates highly on the usability scale, and has become popular among
cultural heritage institutions. Traditionally, virtual exhibits were created with a mouse pointer,
but now electronic applications such as eXhibition:editor3D permit multi-touch, collaborative,
and interactive design.4
Specific populations, such as children, largely benefit from electronic presence in
museums because of the educational and entertaining aspects. Rather than presenting exhibits in
a stale, old-fashioned manner, more and more museums and cultural institutions are
implementing digital tools to heighten their interactivity. When you have an interactive display
for children at an exhibit, more than likely, they will have an easier time being entertained as
well as educated. Of course, children are better able to understand material when it is presented
in a personalized style. As seen with the Cleveland Museum of Arts Gallery One, personalized
content for specific populations vastly changes the mood of a cultural heritage institution.5 The
40-foot Collection Wall, an impressive feat in itself, not only displays the permanent collection
electronically, but allows users of all ages to explore deeper into the exhibits through the makingof process, games, and audio/visual tours.6 Such interactivity creates an expeditious mood in the

3 M. Hecher, R. Mostl, E. Eggeling, C. Derler, and D.W. Fellner, Tangible Culture

Designing Virtual Exhibitions on Multi-Touch Devices. Information Services & Use,
31, no. (July 2011): 199-208. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts
with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed March 1, 2014).
4 Ibid.
5 About Gallery One, Clevelandart.org, last modified March 16, 2014,
http://www.clevelandart.org/gallery-one/about.
6 Ibid.

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museum. Here, all guests are encouraged to develop their own tours and essentially examine the
exhibits before going through the museum.
Furthermore, the Cleveland Museum of Art offers an iPhone/iPad app, ArtLens, which
also covers works in the permanent collection and some selected exhibition galleries.7 While
physically moving through the exhibits, guests are able to swipe their devices across pieces, thus
scanning the image and exposing additional data on the artifact.8 This is an example of how
digital and physical exhibits dont necessarily have to be separate from each other. Curators can
use digital exhibits to enhance the physical. Even after leaving the physical museum at the end of
the day, users are still able to examine over nine hours of additional video and tours with the
app.9
Additionally, this is excellent news for those unable to access the physical museum at all.
The app shares museum-created as well as visitor-made tours to allow one to feel fully involved
in the cultural experience.10 It is interesting to note how such an app allows users to create and
share their personalized tours. As such, the public becomes more connected with the museum
and the processes that take place behind-the-scenes. The museum opens itself up to the public
and shares a culture of cooperation, acceptance, and creativity.
A final supporting note for electronic design in museums is the improvement in
navigation. Too often, museum guests miss out on receiving the full experience in a museum due
7 Ibid.
8 ArtLens, Clevelandart.org, Last modified March 16 2014,
http://www.clevelandart.org/gallery-one/artlens.
9 Ibid.
10 Collection Wall, Clevelandart.org, Last modified March 16, 2014,
http://www.clevelandart.org/gallery-one/collection-wall.

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to poor navigation or simply not knowing what tours are available. ArtLens as well as the
Collection Wall from the Cleveland Museum of art attempt to remedy this issue with their usercreated and museum-created tours.11 The iPhone/iPad app does not necessarily only offer
information on the best routes for educational interest; it also outlays practical navigational
information such as where one may find the nearest restroom, exit, or drinking fountain.12 With
ready-reference information so easily available to the public, it creates more opportunity for
museum professionals to focus on exhibit design and education rather than giving directions.
Shifting from fully electronic or mixed element exhibits to fully physical museums brings
along a distinct change in atmosphere. When a museum either does not have the budget,
expertise, or building capability to incorporate electronic tools, the institution must work in
inventive ways to notify the public of available information. The culture of a purely physical
information institution depends on its decisions and attitudes on sensitive or timely material, the
public, and sensory factors such as lighting. These arrangements add or detract from the overall
character of the location. Depending on whatever choices the cultural heritage professionals
make, every decision relates back to the sensory experience. As Sebine Lenk would suggest, the
underlying intention of cultural institutions is to lead the guest to experience the original.13
In art museum, as in film museums, to enable visitors to get in touch with the original is
still the main objective. In a film museum to pretend that contact with the original
means watching the moving images is, as already explained, an unrealistic claim.
Furthermore, film as an object is just a celluloid strip in a can. Put in a display cabinet it
11 Ibid.
12 ArtLens, Clevelandart.org.
13 Sebine Lenk, Collections on Display: Exhibiting Artifacts in a Film Museum, with
Pride, Film History, 18, no. 3 (September 2006): 319-325. Library, Information
Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed March 1,
2014).

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looks like decoration. The aura of the original is much better provided by associated
objects, especially those which a movie star or director has once used.14
A visitor to a museum should end up feeling reflective, like he or she has encountered and fully
engaged with something invaluable and removed. Adding physical objects such as costumes,
early drafts, or props to a film museum heightens the emotional connection a user would have
with the films on display.
Museums are drifting further and further away from simply being houses to preserve and
display artifacts. Today, they are embracing the idea of creating a space with its own unique
ambiance. This can sometimes prove difficult if the institution does not have the budget or
proper construction for change. As seen with Friederike Vokamps comparison of pastels across
France, Germany, and Austria, environmental conditions impact the conservation strategies in
museums.15 Sometimes, ambiance in a museum is not carefully selected, but a product of the
institutions own struggle to survive. For example, some museums will have no other choice but
to place sensitive material in rooms with windows and must use window treatments to protect the
art. In this fashion, preservation strategies influence the museums culture. It becomes a unique
place where its flaws add to its overall mood. The museum becomes a perfectly imperfect
location.
In designing a physical museum, the thought that goes into displays and exhibits is a
different challenge than designing an online exhibit. While online exhibits are free to be passed
over, or customized, physical exhibits must be experienced in the curators fashion. The display
14 Ibid, 320.
15 Friederike Vokamp, Preservation of Pastels: A Comparative Study on Museum
Preservation Practice in France, Germany and Austria. Restaurator, 34, no. 1
(March 2013): 45-66. Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full
Text, EBSCOhost (accessed March 1, 2014).

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of items is a pre-meditated system which should have a unifying theme.16 As stated by Sue C.
Kimmel,
Labels are unobtrusively placed next to the artwork, providing information about the title,
artist, medium, and date. The room itself may have a plaque with a statement from the
artist or curator. Scanning the room, a newcomer could go immediately to a work of
interest, linger there, and then attend to adjacent pieces for contrast or comparison. Much
of the work of mediation has already been completed in the selection, display, and
annotation of the museum exhibit.17
With online exhibits, the user is free to more easily and quickly make his or her own connections
between items. The challenge of creating a unifying theme can be problematic when attempting
to create an exhibit in which many of the items have a similar motif, yet require different
preservation strategies in display. The curator does not wish to sacrifice any of the pertinent
items, yet must overcome the exacting task of caring for each item on a particular level.
One of the more interesting examples of an issue in a physical museum deals with time
restraint. Sebine Lenk, director of the Filmmuseum Dusseldorf, illustrates the struggle film
museums have in displaying their art and agreeing with the desired ambiance in her article,
Collections on Display: Exhibiting Artifacts in a Film Museum, with Pride.18 Film can be a
problematic medium to feature. One would not want to simply display undistinctive cassettes
along a wall, nor is it possible to present each film in its entirety throughout the museum. Lenk
solves this issue by displaying 10 or 15 minutes of a film in each station.19 In order to create an
16 Sue C. Kimmel, Taking a Page from the Art Museum: Curation as Meditation,
Library Media Connection, 31, no. 5 (March 2013): 16-17. Library, Information
Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed March 1, 2014).
17 Ibid.
18 Lenk, Collections on Display: Exhibiting Artifacts in a Film Museum, with Pride.
19 Ibid.

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environment that is exciting, educational, and interesting, Lenk needed to keep in mind that a
physical museum must overcome such issues of monotony. Even if a guest were to become jaded
by all of the video displayed across the museum, she incorporated other physical objects in the
exhibits to keep the guest connected to the art.20
As opposed to online exhibits, face-to-face contact increases user pleasure with sensory
factors such as lighting. According to a book review for Christopher Cuttles Light for Arts
Sake: Lighting for Artworks and Museum Displays, sometimes curators take the creative
approach to recreate lighting which would have been very similar to that used during the items
creation.21 Unfortunately, this is a unique sensory experience which cannot be recreated with
online exhibits. Cuttle as well as Rogge and Mellon interestingly point out that there are specific
issues which coincide with natural light versus electric light in museums. Besides the benefits
and detriments of lamp types, costs, and control systems, the decisions to include natural light,
skylights, or artificial lights can influence the museums culture. Recreating the original light
used during the creation of the displayed objects takes the visitor on a journey back to the time of
the original. Both the visitors and the employees are able to become more involved in the
exhibit where they become more vulnerable to the items effect.
When an information institution is unable to provide an ambiance through electronic
tools, architecture, or lighting, other add-ons must be created. In 2004, the Jewish Museum
Vienna exhibited over 70 items pertaining to Alma Rose, an Austrian violinist who perished at
20 Ibid.
21 Corina E. Rogge and Andrew W. Mellon, Light for Arts Sake: Lighting for
Artworks and Museum Displays, Journal of the American Institute for Conservation,
50, no. 2 (Winter 2011): 164-165. Library, Information Science & Technology
Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed March 1, 2014).

Janas 9

the Auschwitz concentration camp, which was part of a larger exhibition on Jewish life in Vienna
during the interwar period.22 The museum expected such a popular gathering, that on the opening
day, it sponsored a panel discussion and was covered by widespread European media coverage.23
The museum invited a surviving member of Roses orchestra as well as the author of Alma Rose:
Vienna to Auschwitz, Richard Newman.24 The exhibit most likely would have been popular on its
own, but adding a panel discussion with experts and primary witnesses increases the quality of
connecting the guests to the pieces. The University of Maryland at Baltimores Health
Science/Human Service Library held similar events.25 Since 2002, the library has hosted four
symposiums based on frequent questions at the reference desk and six cultural events.26 As such
events are not available anywhere else on campus, the library becomes an informational
institution with an enjoyable culture all its own.
Non-electronic performance and family-friendly activities are another way to help
connect the user and the information. At St. Fagans Natural History Museum, the museum
professionals responded to negative feedback about the institutions interactivity level with new

22 Western Music Library Materials Return from Display in Vienna, Access (12040472) 11, no. 3 (Spring 2005) 13, Library, Information Science & Technology
Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed March 1, 2014).
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.
25 Ryan Harris, Creating Shared Campus Experiences: The Library as Culture Club
Journal of the Medical Library Association, 101, no. 4 (October 2013) 254-256,
Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost
(accessed March 1, 2014).
26 Ibid.

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developments in its gallery.27 Most of St. Fagans is 100 acres of 40 architecturally interesting
buildings, with a few galleries as separate exhibits. The museum saw the separation as a
significant problem in the overall mood of the museum, and decided to instruct guests more
about the buildings through the galleries. The museum now includes an activities space that is
used for showing films, giving talks or activities for families and informal and formal learning
groups all based on the history of the grounds.28 Designers understood including art workshops,
a toddler group, an adult quilting group, and several lectures would improve the user
experience.29
Through design, preservation strategies, and outreach initiatives, informational and
cultural centers have the power to create an environment in which users and employees can feel
part of a positive culture. Whether a museum uses electronic tools or only designs atmosphere
with architectural components can greatly influence the ambiance. Occasionally, the designer has
no choice but to display an artifact in a manner that will not damage the piece, but conflicts with
a desired setting. Some outreach initiatives challenge the designers based on budget and
anticipated culture. Regardless, museums and heritage centers all feel the goal to create an
experience for the user that resembles the original.

27 Dafydd James, St. Fagans Open Air Museum Embraces Interactives,

Multimedia Information & Technology, 36, no. 4 (November 2010): 30-31. Library,
Information Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text, EBSCOhost (accessed
March 1, 2014).
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid.