A Study of Interactives in Virginia Museums

AbstractMuseums have an important role to both educate the public and also to preserve museum objects for the future. These two responsibilities often conflict with one another. Museums continuously struggle in deciding what objects in their collection must be placed in permanent storage as opposed to being on display and being used to educate the public. This dilemma is even more challenging when bringing in the issue of handling objects in museums. In the following pages, this challenge will be discussed in greater detail through the use of a survey and analysis of Virginia museums. This study provides insight into what museums are currently doing to allow for interactive exhibits.