The Museum Experience

by John H. Falk, Lynn D. Dierking

The Museum Experience is the first book to take the "visitor's eye view" of the museum visit. It integrates the authors' original research with that from a wide variety of disciplines as well as museum and visitor studies ranging from science centers and zoos to art and natural history museums. Written in clear, non-technical style, The Museum Experience gives museum professionals a thorough introduction to what is known about why people go to museums, what they do there, and what they learn. This book is an essential reference for all museum professionals concerned with communicating with the public. It has been used widely for college coursed in the United States, Canada and the UK, and has been translated into Japanese, and Chinese.

Genres: Museology, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1992

Reviews

[Ang]

Summary: The Museum Experience is the first book to take the "visitor's eye view" of the museum visit. It integrates the authors' original research with that from a wide variety of disciplines as well as museum and visitor studies ranging from science centers and zoos to art and natural history museums in the U.K. and India as well as many in the U.S. Written in clear, non-technical style, The Museum Experience gives museum professionals a thorough introduction to what is known about:
-Why people go to museums
-What they do there
-What they learn
It also offers recommendations and guidelines to help museum staff understand their clientele and their interactions with them. It is an essential reference for all museum professionals concerned with communicating with the public.

[Zhang Ruonan]

Original mode of the contextual mode of learning in 2000, a museum studies student or museum education worker should read it.

[Jen]

Approaches the museum from the perspective of the visitor, through the notion of a whole context.