Jeffrey:
     
     There is a large body of research and literature on visitor learning 
     and behavior in museums.  It dates back to the 1930's, but is growing 
     daily.  There is a wonderful annotated bibliography being produced by 
     the Museum Learning Collaborative.  Say a big thanks to IMLS, NSF, and 
     NEH for the joint funding that produced this wonderful resource for 
     all of us and made it assesible via the WWW.  Here is the address:
     
     http://mlc.lrdc.pitt.edu/mlc/Annotatedlit.html
     
     The annotations are divided into three themes.  

        I. Learning and learning environments 
        II. Interpretation, meaning, and explanation 
        III. Identity, motivation, and interest 
     
To me the best overall introduction to how people learn and behave in museums is
Falk and Dierking's 1992 book.  It is readable, has a coherent point of view, 
and is based on research.  Below is the full bib and annotation from the MIC www
site:  

Falk, J. H., & Dierking, L. D. (1992). The Museum Experience. Washington, DC: 
Whalesback Books.


Museum researchers Falk and Dierking propose in this book a comprehensive 
framework for understanding people's museum experiences. This framework, the 
Interactive Experience Model, represents a dynamic process that occurs at the 
intersection of three overlapping contexts--personal, social, and physical--each
of which influences a visitor's museum learning experience. By personal context 
the authors mean the expectations and anticipated outcomes each person has for 
his or her museum visit; by social context they mean the people visitors come 
into contact with while at the museum, such as companions, museum staff, and 
other visitors; and by physical context they mean the museum environment--for 
example, the building structure and the type of exhibits. In discussing the 
personal context, the authors describe the agendas that visitors bring to 
museums, including social-recreational, educationåal, and reverential reasons 
for coming. They argue that since learning in museums is largely a social 
activity, much more research on the social context is needed. They point out 
that the limited research in this area, specifically that on families visiting 
museums, has already produced significant findings, such as the gender 
differences between how mothers and fathers interact with their children. For 
the physical context, the authors discuss how various aspects of the size and 
structure of the museum and of individual exhibits influence the overall 
learning experience--for example, the routes people tend to take, the time they 
spend, and the onset of "museum fatigue." Falk and Dierking devote a section of 
their book to learning theory and its application to learning in museums. Taking
memory and recall as critical indicators of learning, the authors emphasize 
"recollection" research, noting that when people are asked to remember 
everything they can from a museum visit, recall focuses on the personal, social,
and physical contexts of the museum. These findings provide the authors with 
support for their Interactive Experience Model as well as for the amount and 
durability of learning that occurs in museums. Finally, the authors offer 
suggestions to museum professionals for creating and evaluating exhibits in a 
way that takes into account what is known about visitors' needs and levels of 
knowledge so that museums can have the greatest impact and visitors feel 
satisfied with their experience. Based on years of research on museum learning, 
Falk and Dierking provide an excellent framework for understanding the museum 
experience as a whole, and offer many helpful suggestions for future research in
this area, as well as concrete recommendations for museum professionals. This 
book is consistent with the Museum Learning Collaborative's mission to 
investigate exactly how the personal, social, and physical contexts interact to 
facilitate or inhibit learning in museums. (KCA)

If you are looking for specific titles check the AAA and ASTC bookstores at the 
www sites of those organizations.

Good luck on you quest!

Carey Tisdal
Research and Evaluation, Director
St. Louis Science Center



______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Visitor Behavior in the Museum Setting
Author:  Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]> at INTERNET
Date:    11/24/98 1:06 PM


I'm looking for sources for information on visitor behavior in the Museum 
Setting.  Signage, exhibition design, etc.  Any sources that are more 
current than things published in the 1980's would be greatly appreciated.
     
Thanks
Jeffrey Allison
Coordinator, Statewide Programs
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
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