Danielle,

I would recommend you review proceedings from the last several Museums
and the Web conferences.   The latest was just held in Arlington, VA and
there were a number of excellent presentations on e-learning,
personalization of museum websites and increased accessibility.    You
may have some difficulty finding these publications on the local level
but they can be ordered or perhaps acquired through interlibrary loan.

Visit:
Archives and Museum Informatics       www.archimuse.com

You may also want to try a search on "museum informatics" or "virtual
museums" and see what pops up.

Let me know if you need any further help.   We haven't "cracked" the
virtual museum scene yet but I think you'll find there's a whole lot
more to it than digitized collection data.   Are you also interested in
virtual exhibits?

Good luck!

Shirley Albright
Assistant Curator of Natural History
New Jersey State Museum

Danielle Jannusch wrote:

> Hello listers!!
>
> I am a PhD student in geology and am in the process of taking my first
> museum studies course.  I am writing a paper on virtual museums (which
> I am
> loosely defining as a colleciton of digitized artifacts and information
> which is stored in an accessible database- basically NOT just an online
> searchable database, but something that you can "tour").  I am
> intersted in
> determining how members of the museum community feel about these
> web-based
> museums.  What are some of the pros and cons of these museums?  Is there
> something that virtual museums lack that you can only experience in a
> traditional museum?  etc...  Please feel free to share any comments or
> experiences that, with your permission, I could use in my paper.
> Also, if
> any of you are familiar with some good reference material on virtual
> museums, I would greatly appreciate your help.  Thanks!!  Hope to hear
> from
> many of you soon!
>
> Cheers,
> Danielle Jannusch
>
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