In my experience, it is very dependent upon your community.  In one
small local history museum, the board pushed for evening hours.  In the
pre-renovation days of celebrating the city's centennial, a free bus
brought people from local motels on a tour of town that included the
museum.  However, once they stopped the free bus and the range of
activities surrounding the city's centennial, evenings no longer worked.
  We did it year after year with only occasional stray visitors.  When
we had our extended hours as well as a staff cut due to budgets (we were
city operated), my boss encouraged board members to sign up for an
evening a month.  All it took was a week or two of having NO ONE show up
with a board member setting at the reception desk to put an end to that
idea.  We had been open both Saturday and Sunday year round the first
year we opened after renovation.  It became apparent that Sundays didn't
work for our community but Saturday was a fairly good day.

In another community museum, we were open evenings for special events
and just seasonally.  When I came, the board wanted to try winter hours.
 Due to the layout of the facility, it was very difficult to do much
work when the building was open and winter brought us no visitors.

You have to plan these & promote them if you want them to work.  The
excitement that comes with a wide community celebration does not carry
over very well and if there is a break in operation (the first example
was closed for restoration for two years with no other activity) it
doesn't carry at all.   

>>> [log in to unmask] 12/1/2009 11:42 AM >>>
    There are a variety of factors to consider in this, depending on  
the museum's location, mission, etc. For us, most of our visitors are 

from out of town, and most of them aren't staying here overnight, so  
day time hours work just fine. I would think that museums in major  
urban centers might have different audiences and different needs in  
their communities. Our small community is not exactly hopping after  
dark, and our small museum (1,200 sq. feet) is probably not the place 

to make it hop.

    In addition, our front-line staff is all volunteer, generally  
retired folks who want to spend part of their day here. I do shudder  
to think how they would respond to a request for evening service.

    To answer the original e-mail, we are open 10-4 Mon-Sat and 1-4  
Sun in the winter, 9:30-4:30 Mon-Sat and 1-4 Sun in summer. Closed  
four holidays during the year (Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years and 

Easter). We have had a few requests to stay open until 5 but, to my  
knowledge, have never been asked for hours later than that.

Heather McClenahan, assistant director/web master
Los Alamos Historical Society
http://www.losalamoshistory.org 
[log in to unmask] 
PO Box 43
1050 Bathtub Row (Note: same location, new address)
Los Alamos, NM 87544
505-662-6272 (office)
505-470-2912 (cell)

Quoting Cindy Boyer <[log in to unmask]>:

> I raised this very question at a week-long museum institute this   
> past autumn - and saw a shudder go through the group!
>
> I wondered why we keep, for the most part, "bankers hours."  The   
> shudder was the result of a number of overwhelmed, over-committed   
> professionals, whose initial reaction was - one more thing!
>
> My two small historic house museums have lighting issues, so evening 

>  hours are currently not practical most of the year without a  
> serious  investment in upgrades.
>
> I am curious to hear if others are doing more evening hours.  I   
> think it would take some targeted marketing - we expect the movies  

> or the mall or the amusement park to be open late. Will the public  

> think of us when they are considering evening options?
>
> Cindy Boyer
> Director of Museums and Education
> The Landmark Society of Western New York
> 133 S. Fitzhugh St.
> Rochester NY  14608
> (585) 546-7029 ext. 12
> [log in to unmask] 
>  
> The Landmark Society:  Revitalizing Yesterday, Protecting Today, and 

>  Planning for Tomorrow
>
> www.landmarksociety.org 
> Confessions of a Preservationist: The Landmark Society blog
> Facebook / MySpace
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]  

> On Behalf Of Garet Bleddynn
> Sent: Tuesday, December 01, 2009 11:51 AM
> To: [log in to unmask] 
> Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Question on Operating Hours
>
> Good morning, all,
>
> I just had some random questions about operating hours that I wanted
> to ask. This is not a part of any project or class-related activity.
> It's just for my own personal curiosity and education so you can
feel
> free to e-mail me privately at [log in to unmask] unless the folks
on
> the list think this will be helpful.
>
> 1. What days of the week and hours are you open?
>
> I know here at the Tennessee State Museum where I am interning, the
> museum is open Tuesday through Sunday. Tuesday through Saturday, the
> museum is open from 10am-5pm. On Sunday, the museum is open from
> 1pm-5pm. I know it seems to me this limits families going to
museums.
> They would have to attend on either Saturday or Sunday.
>
> I remember reading a paper by Dana in our public history seminar
where
> he commented on museums' operating hours and locations as needing to
> correspond with the communities they seek to serve. This got me to
> thinking, always a dangerous thing. If museums are trying to involve
> the communities, and if we acknowledge that museums are competing
with
> other recreational activities for time and money, then maybe we need
> to review the hours?
>
> If I work Monday-Friday from 8-5, let's examine my recreational
> options. That theme park might be open until anywhere from 7pm-9pm.
If
> I want to go to a movie, I can go to a 9:00pm or later showing. If I
> want to browse the web, that's 24/7. If I want to go to the mall,
> that's open until, at least, 9pm, even later now that it's the
Holiday
> hours.
>
> I just had to wonder. I've seen very large crowds for after-hours
> events both at the museum and even at the local zoo. What do you
think
> your visitation might be like if your hours were 12-8? Also, what
kind
> of staffing issues do you run into with trying something like this?
>
> Thanks for indulging a graduate student's curiosity!
> Garet
>
> --
> M. Garet Bleddynn
>
> ========================
> It is the dim haze of mystery that adds enchantment to any pursuit.
>
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