Guides: Museum Studies Guide: Welcome!

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Education & Teaching
by Mackenzie Harrington Last Updated Jun 26, 2025 21 views this year

Local Museums

Free Specialized Sources

AATA Online
Database of over 100,000 abstracts of literature related to the preservation and conservation of material cultural heritage. Free but registration required.

Bibliographies for Museum Studies
Developed in partnership with Professor J. Lynne Teather at the Museum Studies Program, University of Toronto. Search research material on new media, museums, visitor studies, etc. Museum Journal is indexed for the years 1890-1982, among other titles.
Conservation Online (CoOL)
Compiled by the Preservation Department of Stanford University Libraries, CoOL is a full text library of conservation information, covering with information on the conservation of library, archives, and museum materials.
Museology Bibliography (BMUSE)
Over 25,000 journals, journal articles, books, and reports published are referenced from 1900 to the present. Includes holdings from many international sources such as the UNESCO-ICOM Museum Information Centre, the Library of the Canadian Conservation Institute (CCI), and the Library of the Direction des Musées de France (DMF).

Online Journals

Museum Studies

Museum Studies Reseach Guide

Museum studies, also called museology, is the study of how to organize and manage museums and their collections.

Find Articles

Try searching the following databases but if you can’t find what you need contact a librarian for research assistance.

ERIC
Abstracts on educational topics. Maintained by the Education Resources Information Center of the U.S. Department of Education. Full text non-journal documents issued 1993+ are available free.
Coverage: 1966-
Full Text: Yes
Humanities International Complete
Indexing and full text of hundreds of journals, books and other published sources from around the world on various humanities topics.
Coverage: 1920s-
Full Text: Yes
JSTOR
Online archive of eBooks and complete backruns of scholarly journals in a variety of academic fields.
Coverage: 1800s-
Full Text: Yes
Titles Included | Search Tips
LexisNexis Academic -- Now called Nexis Uni
Full text news, legal, business, and biographical information.
Coverage: Varies
Full Text: Yes
Project MUSE
Full text access to scholarly humanities, social sciences, and mathematics journals.
Coverage: Varies
Full Text: Yes
Titles Included
ScienceDirect
Full text access to more than 2000 Elsevier science, social science, engineering and management scholarly journals.
Coverage: Varies
Full Text: Yes
Scopus
Search Scopus to find research in the fields of Science, Technology, Medicine, Social Sciences, and Arts & Humanities.
Web of Science (WPI Access ended 6/30/2021)

Directories

ARTINFO: Gallery Guide
Official Museum Directory (2001)
REF AM 10 A2 O4
Art Museum Network
Online listing of major museums around the world.

Professional Associations & Organizations

American Association for State & Local History (AASLH)
Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD)
International Council of Museums
Publishes the ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums
ICOM Code of Ethics for Museums
Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC)
Group of science-technology centers and science museums, as well as nature centers, aquariums, planetariums, zoos, botanical gardens, space theaters, natural history and children’s museums. Browse the online Resource Center for information on designing effective science exhibits and other topics.
Resource Center
Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education (CAISE)
Center for Learning in Out of School Environments - University of Pittsburgh
UPCLOSE is an academic home for informal learning, with links to articles, books and researchers in this area.
Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry
For researchers, teachers, and professional development specialists from the fields of science, mathematics, history, writing, and the arts.
InformalScience.org
A resource and online community for informal learning projects, research and evaluation.
National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST)
Includes Journal of Research in Science Teaching and newsletter
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Devoted to saving and preserving America’s historic buildings and neighborhoods. Includes links to current lists of America’s most endangered and distinctive historic sites.
Museum Computer Network (MCN)
Network for information professionals from museum and cultural heritage institutions
Museum Studies: A Guide to Internet Resources
University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.
Museum Studies Training Package
UNESCO and ICOM have jointly produced documents such as Running a Museum: A Practical Handbook
Museums USA
More than 15,000 museum listings & events.
Smithsonian Learning Lab
Listings of courses, internships, fellowships, publications, and a gateway to the Smithsonian's Museum Studies Database.
Smithsonian Learning Lab
Smithsonian Institution Reseach Information System
Search millions of records, with links to 138,000 images, video and sound files from dozens of Smithsonian libraries, archives, museums, and specialized research units.
Victoria & Albert Museum in London Research
Includes V&A Online Journal, information on visitor research and more.
V&A Online Journal
Visitor Studies Association
A professional organization focusing on the visitor experience in museums, zoos, nature centers, visitor centers, historic sites, parks and other informal learning settings.