Hybrid cultural institutions have emerged in the last decades. LAM (libraries, archives and museums) convergences are a particularly complex hybrid, as they combine different jurisdictions, professions and ideas on how to collect, preserve and communicate cultural heritage. This article explores the LAM convergence of BMA-Maltfabrikken in a former malting house in the Danish town of Ebeltoft. The article presents the findings of a research project into the impact that the process of LAM convergence had on the employees’ disciplinary development. The authors point to three key factors that may engender a sustainable LAM convergence process: LAM convergence as a process of professional development for museum professionals; LAM convergence as sustained by a series of Communities of Practice; and increased awareness of professional identity as a matter of flexible leadership and a loosely coupled organization.

Over the last few decades, the concepts of significance, contextuality and polysemy in museum collections have been repeatedly discussed within the international museum field. In this article, we develop and discuss a methodology for operationalizing these concepts in practical collection work. By collaborating with different communities in assigning meaning to collections, we combine the significance assessment of museum collections with citizen science. Through a number of experiments, we explore collaborations between museums and different communities and find that significance assessment as citizen science adds new perspectives to and creates co-ownership of museum collections and thereby democratizes the museums as public institutions.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract