The Connecticut Humanities Council (CHC) has
launched its new Heritage Resource Center (HRC) website. Located on the Web at www.ctculture.org/hrc,
the site is designed to give museum directors, staff, and board members access
to resources that help them adapt and respond to the unprecedented challenges
facing organizations of every size today. Visitors will find reviews of new
books and articles, recommendations on the most useful Web sites and blogs, and
special reports, surveys, and audience studies.
New visitors can first explore
collections of “must reads” for each of the site’s eight core subject areas.
These resources, selected by an advisory committee composed of leading museum
practitioners, represent the essentials with which everyone working in museums
will want to be familiar. Site visitors can next dig deeper by visiting the
Community Center—an ever-expanding set of resources that address the many
challenges facing the museum community today. Followers of the HRC can easily keep
track of newly posted content through an RSS feed, a monthly e-newsletter, Feedburner
e-mail updates, and the CHC
Heritage Resource
Center page on Facebook.
While the HRC is designed to be a “must visit” source of relevant research,
current thinking, emerging trends, and best practices, it is also a virtual
community where museums and nonprofits—both within Connecticut and beyond—can come
together to share their collective knowledge, experience, and ideas. Visitors are
encouraged to engage in an ongoing dialogue about what resources are helpful,
what has worked or not worked at their museums, and what tips and suggestions
they can offer to others.
Recent posts have explored James Gilmore and B. Joseph Pine’s book
Authenticity, introduced readers to the
IMLS’ new Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills initiative,
and discussed The Prime Minister of Permission Marketing, Seth Godin’s blog. The
HRC also shared the findings of the CHC-funded Connecticut Cultural Consumers
Study, conducted by Reach Advisors, that explored what 4,500 visitors to 24
cultural institutions across the state liked, disliked, and wanted when they
visited.
Coming up, the HRC will soon post research from other CHC-funded
studies, including a survey and report conducted by the University of Connecticut’s
NEAG School of Education on Supporting Student
Learning at History Museums that compares the attitudes, practices and
beliefs of secondary school teachers to those of museum educators. A synthesis
of three audience studies conducted since the opening of the new Fairfield Museum
and History Center in September 2007 will also be
posted soon.
