SALEM, MA.- Libraries, archives, and museums face similar challenges. Libraries and archives affiliated with art museums have a second layer of concerns to consider in determining how they best relate to their parent institution.
The Peabody Essex Museum's (PEM) Phillips Library will host a symposium on September 23 and 24, 2010 to explore the issues associated with this very question.Major topics to be addressed include:
• The Role of the Library and Archives in an Art Museum
• Data Unity in the Institution
• Serving Various Audiences
• Fundraising for Museums and Libraries
• Collaboration among Personnel
• Future Trends
The keynote speakers will be:
• Dan L. Monroe, Executive Director and CEO, PEM; Vice President at Large, Association of Art Museum Directors
• Kenneth Soehner, Chief Librarian, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Among the presenters are leaders from top institutions including: PEM, Harvard Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Brooklyn Museum of Art, the Morgan Library and Museum, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Minnesota Historical Society, the National Gallery of Art, and the Freer and Arthur M. Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian Institution.
Sidney Berger, the Ann C. Pingree Director of the Phillips Library, conceived the symposium and led the two-year effort to bring it to fruition. "The topics we will focus on in September rose to the top because of the significant impact they have on our professional lives. In future symposia we hope to address many other pertinent concerns," said Berger.
The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has given PEM a three-year grant to cover the initial symposium, its evaluation, and to publish its proceedings; and to plan a second symposium. Additional funding has been received from The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation.
The cost to attend the two-day symposium is $250 and includes all meals. A block of rooms is reserved in Salem's Hawthorne Hotel at a special rate for attendees. Reservations for the symposium can be made online or through the mail. Visit www.pem.org to download a brochure and learn more about featured topics and speakers.
Full scholarships and generous discounts are available for staff in museums with budgets under $5 million, for junior staff in museums with budgets over $5 million and for pre-professional graduate students. Staff in museums holding artworks from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation are eligible for full scholarships plus expenses. Scholarships and discounts are available to qualifying candidates on a first come, first serve basis.
