Heritage Learning Matters

Museums have been described as trusted and powerful sources of learning and inspiration, safe places for the exploration of ideas, and vital partners in communal efforts to transfer diverse narratives and knowledge. In many people's lives, however, museums do not figure at all. Others experience them as excluding, very academic, boring, and irrelevant.Museums, in reciprocity with the communities they serve, construct and take responsibility for interpretations of heritage, of 'our' and 'other' worlds. This heritage may be expressed in object collections and materiality, but also in languages, relations, and mentalities. What institutional and social structures can help to make this heritage sharing democratic, egalitarian, broad and inclusive? Are there concepts, 'success factors' or results of empirical research which warrant 'best practice' and a truly socially integrated use of museums for learning?What missions, planning, and activities will help museums to engage with diverse audiences, also with those not yet reached or represented? What are tested approaches and key messages that museum communicators and museum educators should adopt? How do we convey the value of museum and heritage learning to the policy-makers in the museum and to the outside, to politicians, the media, or the public at large?The ICOM/CECA'07-Conference volume offers many opportunities for contemplating these issues. More than 50 contributions - major papers by renowned museologists and case studies by museum communicators from around the world - reflect topical investigations and current practices, and invite the readers to take part in an ongoing discussion.