Hi.

In the last year, I have been studying for the M.A. in Museum Studies
with the University of Leicester (UK) while working as volunteer
Documentation Assistant, first in Wales and now in England.

Reading articles for my M.A. stimulated my thoughts about a subject I
would like your opinion about. I would be very very interested in
knowing what you all think about opportunities for research (internal
research) into museum collections.

I know how the decrease in specialist posts and curatorial expertise
in museums, and the apparent lack of time and resources for in-house
research do not help us to be optimistic about the role of research is
nowadays museum missions.
But I strongly belief that research should be at the top in the list
of priorities. As
Research is a key and vital function of the museum when played to the
strength of the collections. As MacGregor ['Scholarship and the
public' in A.Fahy (ed.), Collections Management', 1995, p. 219-223]
says, 'Scholarship is a way of making our collection accessible' and
access is what it all about!

Please share your thoughts on the subject with me. I would much appreciate it.

Thanks

Maria Costanza Centrone

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