Importance of Museum Library

Banaras Hindu University
Faculty of Arts
B. A. (Hons.)
Year 2 semester 3
Archaeology and Museology,
Museum Education and Public Relations
(VC-06)
Sec ‘B’
Assignment
SUBMITTED BY
Debansh Sengupta
Exam roll no. 20214ENG048
Email: debanshsengweta9900mr@gmail.com
Mobile no. 9473744419
Importance of Library in Museums
Introduction
"Museum is an institution dedicated to preserving and interpreting the primary tangible evidence of
humankind and the environment." In its preservation of this primary evidence, the museum houses items
that are mainly unique and constitute the raw material of study and research. Museums belong to that
dimension of society whose primary task is to guard artefacts, guard the manifest part of the evolution of
the human mind.
Museums have been founded for a variety of purposes: to serve as recreational facilities, scholarly venues,
or educational resources; to contribute to the quality of life of the areas where they are situated; to attract
tourism to a region; to promote civic pride or nationalistic endeavour; or even to transmit overtly
ideological concepts. Given such a variety of purposes, museums reveal remarkable diversity in form,
content, and even function. Yet, despite such diversity, they are bound by a common goal: the
preservation and interpretation of some material aspect of society’s cultural consciousness.
A library is traditionally a collection of books used for reading or study, or the building or room in which
such a collection is kept. From their historical beginnings as places to keep the business, legal, historical,
and religious records of a civilization, libraries have emerged since the middle of the 20th century as a
far-reaching body of information resources and services that do not even require a building.
Museums - history
So where did museums come from? In its most basic form what we call a museum,
has come to mean a collection of something.
Use of the word museum during the 19th and most of the 20th century denoted a building housing cultural
material to which the public had access. In fact the notion of a museum, springs from the passion for
collecting
which is deeply rooted in human nature. An early example is the Athenian
Treasury at Delphi. Another early 'collection' was in fact books, Aristotle's Library.
The term 'museum' arises with the mouseion, (Greek, “seat of the Muses”, designating a philosophical
institution or a place of contemplation), the temple of the Muses, in Alexandria. This Musaion, however, is
also known as the Great Library of Alexandria which was established in the 3rd century BCE by Ptolemy
I Soter and which provided the final resting place of Aristotle's famed library.
Thus in its origins a museum was an institution of research, a library and an academy. In time the term
museum became strongly identified with a building type, namely, according to the Oxford Dictionary of
the English Language, «a building used as a repository for the preservation and exhibition of objects
illustrative of antiquities, natural history, fine and industrial art». Every museum has its own
specialization. The term also came to be applied to the collection of objects itself.
Museum libraries - purposes

As more and more museums were created in the 19th century libraries were regarded as an essential part
of the museum. One purpose of a museum library was seen to be to provide documentation on the objects
within the specific museum. The museum library was seen as a tool to provide support to the museum
staff alone and museum-libraries were not regarded as for the public at all and in many instances they
retain to this day the character of a private library.
However, some museums realised that they could physically collect only a very small amount of objects
but to study these objects one would need to view many more examples than the museum could house. In
these museums, libraries were developed as extensions to the museum objects. Whilst the museums tried
to obtain one or two examples of an object, the museum library collected books in which examples of
hundreds more objects of the same type were illustrated.
By the implicit nature of the material that libraries collect, one can discern another purpose of a
museum-library, namely to view the book not only as an information-carrying device, but as an object in
its own right.
In many museums, however, the function of the book as an information-carrier and the book as a cultural
object are split and different management units look after these two functions. One can argue about the
advantages and disadvantages of this split but it seems to me a general truth that when the library does not
look after the book as an object, the library as an information resource is usually worse off and is often
badly treated within the management of the museum.
Museum-Library a support for museum's mission

At its deepest level a museum is a collective memory bank of human achievement through a collection of
objects. The museum's function can, therefore, be seen at its basic level as ensuring that the objects
survive. After that follows the activity of presenting the objects to the people so that human consciousness
continues to incorporate these achievements in its activities.
In the first place an object is mute. Its history needs to be researched and this must then be interpreted for
the various publics of a museum. The object must be conserved and displayed and questions about the
object must be answered.
The museum library supports research into the object and its context; into the methodologies for
conserving the objects; and finally it supports research relating to the display of the object, and into
exhibitions.
The museum library provides the context within which an institution's specific collection of objects can
be researched, documented and interpreted. The museum library thus compensates for the inevitable
limitations of the museum. Visitors to the museum know that they will be able to find the most in-depth
information on the museum's collection in the museum library.
Museum libraries specifically collect catalogues of other museums' permanent collections, exhibition
catalogues from both museums and commercial galleries and the catalogues of auction houses.
But every museum has specific limited accessories, therefore, they cannot exhibit the latest activities. In
this way, some museums lacks up to date information.
Museum libraries - Importance

If a museum doesn't have a library or at least a librarian, where can museum staff go for information to
help them do their work? Even if a museum cannot afford to build a library collection, at least having a
librarian with a phone and Internet connection, plus a very small reference collection, is necessary to
support the work of curators and of museum education department staff.
Museum libraries see themselves as part of an information environment at their museum. A researcher
may be referred from one part of that environment to another, from the library to an office where they are
compiling an inventory, or to the photo archive. But the library is the fulcrum, where the researcher can
start their research and be forwarded onward. In the library there is a recognition of public service, so the
researcher is more likely to be guided or helped as they formulate a research itinerary through the
museum's information environment. So even if all the parts of that info environment aren't "under" the
library, the library staff are the ones who have the clearest notion of the relationship between the parts and
the whole.
The library is the foundation on which the superstructure of museum research and education is based.
Library is the fountain-head for research. Without a library you have nothing.
In our country, due to a lack of adequate facilities, we cannot achieve our goals.
Conclusion
Without museums and libraries we cannot achieve the best result. It is true in our country there are
Museums and libraries. In Spite of this we cannot achieve the best result because of inadequate facilities.

Importance of Museum Library

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Importance of Museum Library

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Importance of Museum Library

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Banaras Hindu University

Archaeology and Museology,

Museum Education and Public Relations

Museum libraries - purposes

Museum-Library a support for museum's mission

Museum libraries - Importance

You might also like