My recent "Musees Face A La Decroissance" (Museums facing econmic
ecline) in the ICOM Canada/Musee de la Civilisation, Quebec, "New Trends
in Museum Management" (1997) proposes not one, but five, imperatives in
the face of the impending end to the past 50 years of explosive museum
growth:

(1) autonomy [especially in management and finance]
(2) stability [no more trendy short-term policy and management fads and
fashions]
(3) cooperation [between museums and with a wide range of bodies with
similar interest and aims]
(4) information [collecting, managing and dissemination of information to
be recognised as a central role]
AND
(5) relevance [no comment needed - I hope].

Patrick J. Boylan

City University, Frobisher Crescent, Barbican, London EC2Y 8HB, UK;
phone: +44-171-477.8750, fax:+44-171-477.8887; e-mail: [log in to unmask]
World Wide Web site: http://www.city.ac.uk/artspol/