FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT

Museums and Universal Heritage.
Universities in Transition - Responsibilities for Heritage

UMAC's 7th International Conference
19 - 24 August 2007, Vienna, Austria, within the ICOM General Conference
http://publicus.culture.hu-berlin.de/umac/2007/

The theme of ICOM's conference is "Museums and Universal Heritage".
UMAC's sub theme is "Universities in Transition - Responsibilities for
Heritage".

INTRODUCTION

"The role of museums is changing fundamentally and rapidly". This
statement from the general introduction to ICOM's 2007 triennial meeting
in Vienna is "doubly true" for university museums, as they belong to two
rapidly changing worlds: the academic world and the "world outside".
Both worlds are in transition, affecting university museums as they
function on the interface between universities and society at large.

ICOM's definition of a museum makes us believe that museums are still
holistic institutions with a balanced attention for each of their core
tasks: the care for their collections, and for scholarly research and
exhibitions based on those collections. This however is increasingly no
longer the case. In reality many collections are no longer curated by
'their' keepers, but kept in 'collections centres' to be looked after by
professional collections managers; object-based research is being
out-sourced and the Kunsthalle and Science Centre have become accepted
members of the museum family - even though the latter make exhibitions
without a single real object. Museums are not only split in these three
progressively more autonomous parts (exhibitions, collections and
research) but are supposed to 'earn' a substantial part of their budget
and to adjust to the whim of each new political trend.

University museums are simultaneously confronted with the question how
to address these challenges, and how to cope with the crisis within
their parent institutions, as they function at the intersection between
the museum-world - as part of a wider intellectual, sociological,
political and economic panorama - and the university - as institutions
for higher research and education.

Universities themselves are in an identity crisis, as age-old academic
traditions and values are under pressure due to disappearance of borders
between disciplines, integration of ICT, drastic budget cuts and
aggressive market-oriented international competition. These changes have
huge impact on what universities demand and expect from their museums.
Originally custodians of the object as primary source of knowledge for
the scholarly learning of a select academic audience, their new role is
to perform as the university's showcase for the public at large. The
transition from within the heart of the academic community to the
university's interface with society at large, in combination with the
shift of emphasis from object-based research to the promotion of the
public understanding of science, has dramatic effects on both
composition and skills of the staff and hence on their ability to act as
custodians of academic heritage. Meanwhile, objects continue be the
primary source of information for many fields of research, object-based
research continues to be performed and there is a growing awareness of
the importance - and economic value - of collections as database.

University museums have to respond to these challenges, either as a
result of their parent institutions being in transition, or because
museums themselves are in transition, or both. This implies not only a
re-valuation of our three fundamental missions: research, teaching and
public display, but also the question how that affects our heritage,
both tangible and intangible.

The theme of UMAC's 7th International Conference therefore focuses on
the effects of transition of universities and the effect thereof on
collections, and how that relates to the universal responsibility of
museums, universities and governments.

UMAC members encompass museums of all academic disciplines; each of them
will be affected by these transitions in a different way and each will
choose a different approach and strategy to secure the museum's mission.

UMAC's Conference Board 2007 invites participants to report on how they
- each in their specific and therefore unique situation - respond to
these challenges and to share experiences and best practices.

Further information will be provided on UMAC's Website:
http://publicus.culture.hu-berlin.de/umac/2007/

CALL FOR PAPERS

UMAC is currently inviting submissions for oral and poster papers
focusing on the Conference's theme Museums and Universal Heritage or
sub theme "Universities in Transition - Responsibilities for Heritage".

Papers may be presented in three forms:
a) 15 minute formal talks
b) 10 minute informal 'experiences'
c) posters

Authors of papers will be asked to participate in a discussion session
following the presentation. The language of the conference will be English.

If you would like to offer a paper, please send an abstract (in English)
to: Nick Merriman, Chair of the 2007 Review Committee,
[log in to unmask], or Cornelia Weber, UMAC Chair,
[log in to unmask]

Abstracts will be accepted electronically until
1 May 2007. If you wish to present a paper please supply us with the
following information:
- Title of submitted paper
- Type of paper: 15 minutes, 10 minutes or poster
- Name(s) of Author(s)
- Affiliation(s) & full address(es)
- Email, phone & fax of corresponding author
- Abstract in English (not to exceed 300 words)
- Support equipment required

All submissions will be considered by the Review Committee who will
assess each abstract for relevance to the theme and clarity of ideas and
expression.

Authors of papers accepted will be asked to give UMAC the right to
publish the paper on UMAC's Website and (as the case may be) in the
conference proceedings. All presenters must supply a digital copy of
their paper on arrival in Vienna and before their paper is presented.

CONFERENCE ARRANGEMENTS

Our conference is an integral part of the General Conference and a
string of receptions and excursions have been arranged to which everyone
is invited.

You can find full information about the General Conference arrangements,
including accommodation, the location of meetings, how to register and
details of registration fees on the Conference web site:
http://www.icom2007.com

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