University museum in the service of the academic community

University museums in Poland nowadays include about 70 entities operating within the structures of universities. Many of them have been established in recent years, frequently they have quite low budgets, insufficient staff, modest expertise and premises. The paper includes several propositions how such museums’ operations could use the broadly defined academic community to draw professional knowledge and get support in everyday word, gathering collections and building prestige. The academic community is defined as the entire community of the university: current administration staff, faculty, retired staff and faculty, their families, students, but also inhabitants of the neighbourhood. University museums, like no others, have the unique scientific support of science laboratories (to be used for conservation works), scientific staff (research on art and science history) or specialist IT staff (stock-taking and digitalisation of collections). Using this potential should be made a part of the museums’ development strategies. Our university museums are the only ones to have unique access to a pool of creative activities generated by students. In most university museums students are not sufficiently involved by museum staff. This group of young people, changing every five years, and their activities may fill the museums’ exposition space and surroundings. Students make a constant and endless asset – it is up to museum staff how it will be used for the needs related to building institutional image.

The specific character of this potential is a unique basis to build university museums as modern  institutions – open to dialogue, education, popularisation of science and art, open to learning and spreading the latest achievements on the local and global levels.

University museums in Poland nowadays include about 70 entities operating within the structures of universities. Many of them have been established in recent years, frequently they have quite low budgets, insufficient staff, modest expertise and premises. The paper includes several propositions how such museums’ operations could use the broadly defined academic community to draw professional knowledge and get support in everyday word, gathering collections and building prestige. The academic community is defined as the entire community of the university: current administration staff, faculty, retired staff and faculty, their families, students, but also inhabitants of the neighbourhood. University museums, like no others, have the unique scientific support of science laboratories (to be used for conservation works), scientific staff (research on art and science history) or specialist IT staff (stock-taking and digitalisation of collections). Using this potential should be made a part of the museums’ development strategies. Our university museums are the only ones to have unique access to a pool of creative activities generated by students. In most university museums students are not sufficiently involved by museum staff. This group of young people, changing every five years, and their activities may fill the museums’ exposition space and surroundings. Students make a constant and endless asset – it is up to museum staff how it will be used for the needs related to building institutional image.

The specific character of this potential is a unique basis to build university museums as modern  institutions – open to dialogue, education, popularisation of science and art, open to learning and spreading the latest achievements on the local and global levels.