Dr. Al Sharekh,

I don't believe that archeological collections should be treated differently
from other kinds of collections.

A gallery guide, brochure, and booklet could all refer to the same thing.  A
"guide," however, suggests that the material it contains will in some way
direct the visitor's experience and provide information that may not be
self-evident about the objects and displays.

I have produced a number of guides, and I have found the first step must be
to ask and answer certain questions:

1.  What is my budget for this project (including staff time, research
expenses, consultant assistance, graphic design, printing, and
post-production evaluation)?

2.  How long will we use the publication?  If the installation is
"permanent," how long is it likely to be before the installation is
"reinstalled" by the next curator or director?

3.  Who constitutes our target audience, and how much about archeology is it
reasonable to expect them to know before they come to the museum?

4.  Do we need the publication to function as an introduction to the whole
museum?  Should it contain a floor plan, museum hours, parking information,
or other visitor services/amenities information?

5.  Should we consider a long-term project and create graphically harmonized
guides to each major gallery/collection over a period of a few years?

6.  Who will take final responsibility for the content of the guide?  The
educator?  The curator?  The director?  A committee headed up by one of
these people?

7.  Do we need to consider producing this publication in more than one
language?

8.  Should the publication be free to visitors or should it cost something?
How much?  Where will be it sold or given away?  How will visitors find out
that it is available?

9.  How will a publication like this fit into our museum's structure of
publications?  Do we have (or do we plan to publish) an informational museum
brochure? a general newsletter?  an in-depth guide to the most significant
objects in the collection?  a scholarly bulletin?

And so on.

The questions listed above are not definitive.  I listed them in the order
that they occurred to me as I wrote, not in the order I would necessarily
approach them if I were planning such a project.

In the end, I would focus most closely on the museum's needs, and make the
publication serve YOUR museum and YOUR membership and visitors.  No
interpretive structure (gallery guide, audiotour, label, text panel,
scholarly book, etc.) can be all things to all people.  Moreover, what works
well for one museum may not suit a different institution.

I have not seen gallery guides published on the internet.  However, there
are examples of different approaches at most major museums, and I imagine
many museums would be happy to mail you copies and/or information.  The
National Gallery in Washington DC has family guides to both the East and
West Buildings; the Victoria & Albert Museum in London has an interesting
series of guides; the Denver Art Museum has a particularly excellent
approach to integrating different educational/interpretive materials (I am
remembering the Asian and pre-Columbian collections in particular).

Best of luck with your researches.

Ellen B. Cutler
LNB Associates - Writing, Editing, Proofreading, Research Services
Aberdeen, MD


----- Original Message -----
From: Dr, Abdullah Al Sharekh <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 07, 2001 4:55 AM
Subject: Gallery Guides


> Dear all,
>
> Within an archaeological museum environment:
> - How would you define a gallery guide?
> - What is the difference between a gallery brochure and a gallery booklet?
> or would they all act as a gallery guide?
> - Is it usual to have a guide for each gallery separately? or, would it be
> more appropriate to have it all between two covers?
>
> I would be interested to see some examples on the internet, if you happen
to
> know of them.
>
> Thanks
>
> Abdullah Alsharekh, Ph.D
> Archaeologist
>
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