Thanks to Mr. Hemmat for posting the address for his museum information
site: http://www.museumstuff.com

Personally, I feel that the museum profession and the museum-going public
are both in need of more resources like this one.

HOWEVER, as a museum professional intimately involved with one of the
websites he highlights, I am also concerned about two things:

A) His homepage states: "Help support museums by purchasing products
through their online shops. We offer dozens to choose from." (and several
similar statements). But his links to "museum shops" also include
for-profit enterprises that are direct competition for museums, like The
Museum Company. It is misleading to make people think that shopping at The
Museum Company or similar corporate sites in any way supports museums-
these shops are doing just the opposite- taking away valuable dollars from
NFP sales shops.  I would not argue that places like The Museum Company
don't have a right to compete with museums; but Mr. Hemmat should make sure
to inform the public of the difference between real museum shops and
for-profits posing as museum shops.

B) His site highlights a few products from each museum shop site, including
ours; has he contacted these sites to ask their permission to take and use
their images? He hasn't contacted us that I'm aware of. How will the
products be kept current- as part of my museum's website group, I am
certain that we would rather not be highlighted at all than to be
highlighted with products that we don't currently sell/are out of stock on/
or are posted with incorrect info about. How will he work to ensure this
info is correct? And who picks what products are highlighted? Right now for
our website he has chosen the two most expensive things on the site ($650
and $250!!), which makes our site look like its only for the rich, which
certainly isn't the case.

Again, I don't want to sound like a stick-in-the-mud, and applaud his
effort. Apologies if anyone has posted identical questions- I only get the
digest version of Museum-L and so haven't seen what discussion has gone on
today about his original post of yesterday.

__________________________
Dennis Kois
Design Department
The Metropolitan Museum of Art

(this post reflects personal opinion only, and is not in any way reflective
of the official position of the Metropolitan)

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