Creating the Visitor-Centered Museum

"Creating the Visitor-Centered Museum draws together a number of international examples of successful visitor-centred museum making and explores what it is that makes them so successful. The case studies at the heart of the book provide insight into the experiences and aims of Directors, the function and purpose of multi-discipliciplinary teams, the emergence of experience designers and the changes that many curatorial and other staff feel themselves move throughas a result of what are often large-scale transformation projects. Providing a summary of some of the key issues, processes and arguments involved in so many large scale transformations in museums and galleries, the book places an emphasis on the words of those professionals involved in the projects and as such offers much needed insight into the creation of visitor-centred museums. The book is a must read for professionals involved in the remaking of museums and galleries and will provide students of museums with valuable insight into the realiies and possibilities of building truly visitor-centred museums."

-Dr Suzanne McLeod, Director and Head of School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester, UK

"The book serves to encourage or remind current art museum professionals and to instruct and inspire future generations of practitioners."

-Diane VanderBeke Mager, The Museum Scholar

"Samis and Michealson have compiled a diverse set of case studies that are instructive in their diversity and which support their intention of not having ‘best practices, rather solutions best suited for particular audiences and situations’ (46). The book is built on the premise that visitor-centered strategies are essential for the long-term sustainability of museums, but the non-prescriptive way they present creative possibilities makes this book both welcome and practical."

-Dr. Jill Baird, UBC Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada

"In their excellent book, Creating the Visitor- Centered Museum, Peter Samis and Mimi Michaelson reveal how several established institutions became committed to putting people, play, and community on equal, if not superior, footing with objects, the academy, and the connoisseur. Both the transformation and the book about it are cause for celebration. You should order a copy and immediately add it to your professional bookshelf.

The book’s chapters are short and plentifully illustrated with excellent photographs, charts, and well-chosen quotes from the various informants.Unblemished by jargon, it seamlessly blends theory and practice and reflects the authors’ several years of intensive research and reflection."

-Leslie Bedford, Exhibition Journal