Re:  Museum News and AVISO comments:

This talk about AAM's publications has made some valid points but has also
been a bit unfair.  Consider Museum News for what it is ... a "trade"
magazine for its membership.  I don't think it pretends to be a
hard-hitting investigative publication, but, nevertheless, it regularly
addresses issues of great interest and controversy (I can think of articles
about the NEA, women in museums, and the Enola Gay, just off the top of my
head.)  With a membership in the thousands, AAM has an impossible task of
publishing articles of value to everyone.  But for what it sets out to do,
I think it does it thoroughly and well, and it presents a very professional
image for the museum field.

What I am hearing MUSEUM-L people yearn for is information presented in a
timely (perhaps, less slick and more electronic) format.  It makes a lot of
sense for the AVISO job listings (and other time-sensitive information) to
be on the AAM Web site.  For the past 6 months, my organization, TAM, has
been making job and ad listings on our Web site part of the package when we
sell ads in our newsletter.  We feel that it improves our services to
membership, and that it will enhance, not reduce, our reveues.  To their
credit, AAM has been posting time-sensitive legislative stuff on MUSEUM-L
for quite some time not.  I would think the job listings could be easily
done.

The Museum News question is much more complex.  As stated, above, it is a
competent, professional magazine that represents at some level AAM's
identity to the membership and the public.  Any organization that has
enjoyed AAM's success with membership and annual meeting attendance ought
to think twice about changing one of its basic services.  Museum News must
surely cost a ton of money to publish, but it also must bring in a fair
amount of ad revenues.  It serves purpose as AAM's "signature" publication,
and, while it doesn't always provide timely, hard-hitting coverage of all
museum world issues, it hits a good number of issues competently and
thoroughly.  Unless it is terribly unpopular or is driving AAM to
bankruptcy, I wouldn't advocate radically changing it.

Having said all of that, it would be terrific to have some museum-world
equivalent to the Chronicle of Philanthrophy.  The Chronicle, on a
bi-weekly basis, provides amazing amounts of news and commentary on the
non-profit world in a non-slick "newspaper" format.  But I don't think AAM
could (or necessarily should) take on something like this.  The Chronicle
is a publication of the Chronicle of Higher Education, and not a
publication of a membership organization like AAM.  Because publications
are not the forte of trade associations, they normally aren't equipped to
do them well (just as museums typically don't do restaurants well.)

None of this is to say that AAM should not look for opportunities to
provide relevant information to its membership electronically.  AAM will
probably admit that it has been behind the curve on Internet, Web site,
etc., though it appears to be catching up (note recent publication of Web
site as well as CyberMuse column and other articles in Museum News.)  The
AAM Web site presents the option to regularly post newsworthy articles that
may not make it into Museum News because of space constraints or other
reasons.  An electronic "Museum News" with time-sensitive article as well
as info from recent issues of MN might prove to be an attractive draw to
the AAM Web site (and might also pay for itself with Web site advertising.)
Rather than criticizing MN for not doing investigative reporting on museun
"time bombs", I would encourage them to look for creative ways to serve
their membership through electronic communications.

Jack Nokes
Executive Director
Texas Association of Museums

These are my opinions, and not necessarily TAM's.

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