Lord Cultural Resources, the global cultural professional practice, has announced the release of a new edition of the Manual of Museum Management for Museums in Dynamic Change by Lord co-founder and renowned museum planner Gail Dexter Lord. In this updated volume, she has applied her international experience to create a comprehensive guide to the tools and strategies needed to successfully address today’s challenges and opportunities.
“This is a book for museum leaders, managers, trustees and staff, and all those who care about museums and are curious about how they work,” explains Lord. “I touch on so many aspects of our work — like exhibitions, strategy, communications and technology. Museums are stable institutions, with enormous amounts of public trust, and museum staff are resilient. At Lord, we provide support and advice to museums and cultural organizations, and now they can now find it within these pages as well.”
Case studies and more
The book provides an incisive analysis of the broad changes that the museum industry has undergone. It gives helpful, hands-on guidance on how to write budget processes, security strategies, and collection policies, and also includes a comprehensive glossary of words related to modern museum management. Readers can also find thirty case studies written by several international museum professionals, alongside a selection of mission, mandate vision and values statements from renowned museums.
Speaking about how this edition is different, Lord says:
“Racial and social justice feature much more prominently, as does the climate crisis, and the need for clear values. Repatriation was previously referenced as a technical issue, not as a moral/ethical issue. Colonialism is very much in this book. There are also case studies on unionization, working conditions and governance controversies. And this edition really introduces the concept of teams in a huge way. Teamwork is the essence of museum management in our time.”
Talking about the 30 case studies by diverse leaders from across the globe, half of which are BIPOC, she adds:
“This is a first, and a tremendous aspect of this book. Diverse viewpoints by people who are diverse is part of our philosophy at Lord. I love that this edition is bookended by two incredible contributions: John G. Hampton’s incredibly thoughtful and sensitive piece on “Decolonizing Museum Management” and Sandra Jackson-Dumont’s “How Museums can Matter More,” which is an amazing contribution that is beautifully written and so inspiring.
“I’m also so proud of the contributions made by our remarkable Lord team, who are so extraordinary at what they do.”
A book to empower people
The book is designed to be useful:
“We have so many clients who we help with collection policies, security plans, budget processes. We took all that great content out of the main body of the book and put it in the appendices, so the book can focus on storytelling, and the technical pieces live in their own section. A lot of that excellent content was written by my late husband Barry. And I love the Glossary, too. It’s very comprehensive and up-to-date. Lots of people ask, what’s the difference between a feasibility study and a master plan? This will be so useful for them.”
She also hopes that people will take away “a feeling of empowerment,” adding, “We know we can’t create change overnight. We make change through good management, good professional practice, ethics, and values.”
Attendees at this year’s AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo can meet Lord when she takes part in a book signing on 18 May from 11 – 11:30 a.m. at the AAM Bookstore.
Earlier this month, Lord Cultural Resources announced the expansion of its leadership team with the appointment of Joy Bailey-Bryant, Dov Goldstein and Javier Jimenez.
