VHS Selling Museum Cases and Exhibit Furniture at Up to 90% Off

Read the press release from the Virginia Historical Society, or view a slideshow of some of the items being sold:

Virginia Historical Society Selling Museum Display Cases and Exhibition Furniture at Up To 90% Off

Conference Go-ers - Need a Roomate?

If you are planning on attending the VAM Conference at the Omni Hotel in Richmond in March, and are interested in finding a roommate, here is a place you can find one - simply comment on this post with whatever contact information you'd like to share, and your colleagues can find you!

We can't wait to see everyone at VAM's Annual Conference 2010: Museums Driving Change.

- Heather

Blog from National Trust for Historic Preservation

Show Me The Money has a great listing of Federal grant opportunities for museums! Check it out at http://nthpgrants.blogspot.com/. Happy hunting!

Heather

Question from a Newbie...

If anyone can address this question, please reply to the contact information below, in addition to commenting on the blog post! Thanks in advance!

- Heather

I am new here in the museum world. I need some inside help. We have audio-visual technology that is broken and needs replacement.
· Specifically, we have a NEC projector VT676 that has burned out and I’d like to see similar technology, but one that is activated when someone is in the gallery.
· Previously, the projector we had ran from morning to closing non-stop. We have burned out two at enormous cost.

Can you suggest any techno-museum savvy company in the Hampton Roads-Richmond area that can give us the scoop on making our museum dazzle on a shoestring budget?

Thanks,
Gaynell Drummond,
Operations Manager
Hampton History Museum
757.727.6436

A New Donor Metric?

Should the effectiveness of a nonprofit be measured in terms of whether or not it is merging or collaborating with other nonprofits? An interesting concept for discussion...

- Heather

Check it Out: The Uncataloged Museum

Jennifer came across this blog, the Uncataloged Museum, and thought it would be of interest to our members! Enjoy!

Heather

More Data from the AASLH Online conference

There is a session going on right now about a consumer survey done in the state of Connecticut. Those surveyed were core visitors to museums in that state, making up almost 5,000 respondents. There is a lot of good information that can perhaps be broadened to the larger museum audience across the country, and some of it is good news. One bit of data that stood out for me, though, is very bad news. When asked, only 12% of respondents said that museum staff were "helpful."

What does this mean for museum staff? What exactly are museum visitors expecting of museum staff when they come to a museum? Are they looking for something they shouldn't be, or are we as museum professionals falling flat in serving our visitors?