Research summary
The traditional role of museums is to preserve works and artefacts in optimal conditions and serve as repositories of our collective memory. Dr. Johanne Lamoureux, Canada Research Chair in Civic Museology, is studying how museums are transforming the way they use their permanent collections. She is also exploring civic museology, which focuses on local visitors rather than tourists.
Lamoureux and her team are interested in the move to digitizing collections to make them more accessible to users. In conjunction with art museums, they are trying to co-produce knowledge related to new uses for collections. They are identifying and examining the logistics of civic museology by cataloguing and comparatively analyzing the initiatives taken by art museums and museums in other disciplines. Their work will help develop museology research training.