There are two main forces at work here. One is the decline in the
collecting mandate of museums for many reasons including the cost of
of acquiring, conserving and storing objects and the need for
specialists that used to be called curators. The other is the changing
expectations of the public. A cynic would say it is strictly bottom
line driven but it is more than that. Museums are going through many of
the structural changes that is now hitting "first" world countries.

Maurice D. Smith, Curator, Marine Museum of the Great Lakes