Museology

What is museology? A simple definition might be that it is the study of museums, their history and underlying philosophy, the various ways in which they have, in the course of time, been established and developed, their avowed or unspoken aims and policies, their educative or political or social role. More broadly conceived, such a study might also embrace the bewildering variety of audiences - visitors, scholars, art lovers, children - at whom the efforts of the museum staff are supposedly directed, as well as related topics such as the legal duties and responsibilities placed upon (or incurred by) museums, perhaps even some thought as to their future. Seen in this light, museology might appear at first sight a subject so specialized as to concern only museum professionals, who, by virtue of their occupation, are more or less obliged to take an interest in it. In reality, since museums are almost, if not quite, as old as civilization itself, and since the plethora of present-day museums embraces virtually every field of human endeavor - not just art, or craft, or science, but entertainment, agriculture, rural life, childhood, fisheries, antiquities, automobiles: the list is endless - it is a field of inquiry so broad as to be a matter of concern to almost everybody.