PUBLICATIONS

New Book Released

Reinventing the Museum: Relevance, Inclusion and Global Responsibilities

Edited by Gail Anderson
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / American Alliance of Museums, May 2023
30% Discount Code: RLFANDF30

Reinventing the Museum: Relevance, Inclusion and Global Responsibilities is the third edition following the 2004 and 2012 versions of the Reinventing series. More than a decade since the prior volume, this edition features all new content written since 2015 germane to this pivotal time for museums and the world. The book illuminates the complex external realities and shifts impacting museums, to spur and initiate relevant transformation in order to help define museum’s most impactful role in the ecosystem of their diverse communities at the local, regional and global levels. The urgency for meaningful change is key for museums to emerge as central, more vital contributors in a world that requires new visionary leaders with strategies to make a difference.

The anthology features leading thinkers from across the globe each probing a thread or topic that creates a look into the origins, realities and pressures marking this pivotal time for museums. The introduction frames the book, highlights the issues of our times and the structure of the articles compiled and sequential flow of the contents. Setting the stage for the book is an update to the Reinventing the Museum Tool.

“When I started my career as an Indigenous curator the first book I read was the first edition of Reinventing the Museum. It was ahead of the curve when it came to discussions around decolonizing museums, their colonial baggage, and inclusion. I am so excited for this third edition as it’s even more timely and forward-looking.” Aaron Leggett, senior curator, Alaska History and Indigenous Cultures, Anchorage Museum, president, Native Village of Eklutna

Digital Workbook

The Resilience Playbook

Written by Anne W. Ackerson, Gail Anderson, & Dina Bailey, November 2020

THE RESILIENCE PLAYBOOK is hot off the press.  It is 110 pages of strategies, guiding principles, and resources to be used by an institution in consultation with GA&A or the Resilience Team.  Developed with Anne Ackerson and Dina Bailey, THE PLAYBOOK  is a forward-looking and a bold approach to help museum leaders rethink the role of their institution relative to a world of disruption and contemporary challenges in order to reimagine a meaningful, relevant, and financially viable path forward.  The resilience strategies require rethinking institutional assumptions, and tackling embedded exclusionary and outmoded ideologies and practices in order to establish more flexible, inclusive, and responsive approaches that better align with external realities.

Unlike a book that is purchased separately, The Playbook is a critical component of the services offered by the Resilience Team. It is a digital workbook, a reference, and an ideology.  Specifically, THE RESILIENCE PLAYBOOK encompasses 5 Resilience Goals and 20 Plays that offer empowering and practical approaches to help your organization increase and strengthen its commitment to equity and inclusion, community value, an impactful role, financial viability, and agile leadership. It’s a detailed tool for taking the steps to create a resilient organization and to inform and shape your Resilience Plan.

If this approach feels like something you would like to explore, please send an email to gail@gailanderson-assoc.com and let’s set up a time to talk and see if THE RESILIENCE PLAYBOOK is right for your institution.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Books in Print

Mission Matters: Relevance and Museums in the 21st Century

Written & edited by Gail Anderson
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / American Alliance of Museums, May 2019
Chapter 1

Mission Matters sheds a fresh light on how to envision relevant and impactful museums making direct links to external contemporary realities and the need for museums to better position themselves as leaders and change agents in the greater landscape and diversity of people of our times.

“This book is right on the money. The world is making ever-increasing demands of museums leading to all sorts of tensions and controversies. Strong missions are increasingly important in order to help museums cope with these pressures. I cannot recommend this book highly enough to all who are involved in museum management. Gail Anderson is an expert in this field, and we are fortunate that she has produced a contemporary view of such importance.” — David Fleming, Ph.D., Professor of Public History, Hope University, Liverpool, England, and former Director of the National Museums Liverpool

Reinventing the Museum: The Evolving Conversation on the Paradigm Shift

Edited by Gail Anderson
AltaMira Press

This second edition is an anthology of 44 seminal articles representing the changing perspectives about the role of museums in contemporary times. The book includes iconic pieces from the 20th century and 33 new articles presenting the latest thinking of the past decade since the first edition. This edition represents 75% new material. Updated tool for downloading, Reinventing the Museum Tool .

“In this new edition of Reinventing the Museum Gail Anderson once again provides a comprehensive and thoughtful array of essays by leaders in the museum field and beyond. Issues that address the challenge of the 21st century museum are explored in many of these essays which will serve both students and practitioners. I welcome this new and valuable addition to the literature.” – Martha Morris, George Washington University

Reinventing the Museum: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Paradigm Shift

Edited by Gail Anderson
AltaMira Press

This first edition anthology brings together 35 seminal articles that reflect the unfolding thinking on what it means to be a museum in today’s world. The book highlights pivotal articles from the 20th century through to the present in the introductory section.   Contemporary perspectives on the role of the public, public service, stewardship, and leadership constitute the remaining sections. This reader is designed to provide trustees, museum professionals and students with access to some of the best thinking in the museum profession.

Museum Mission Statements: Building a Distinct Identity, 2nd Edition

Edited by Gail Anderson
American Association of Museums

A well-crafted mission statement is one of the central management tools for museums navigating the present into the future. Twenty top museum professionals share their memorable experiences shaping their institution’s mission statement, and bring to life the principles and techniques for attaining a mission statement that inspires and energizes. This book provides step-by-step guidance in writing or evaluating a museum mission statement and how to use it effectively. Generously supplemented with 79 mission statements from a wide variety of museums, the report is useful to any size or type museum.

Books & Publications

Gail Anderson has authored and edited multiple publications and written over 24 articles.

A sampling of articles and reviews:

• “Mission Statements: Museums, Identity, and Relevance,” ICOM, anticipated publication date, 2022.
• “Inside Out, Outside In: A resilience model for museums offers strategies to address challenging realities” article, AAM, Museum magazine, May/June 2020.
• Interviewed for “Chicago museums facing financial woes as major exhibits are sidelined by pandemic,” by Kyle MacMillan, Chicago Sun Times, May 2020
• An essay titled, “Reflections on organizational transformation in the twenty-first century,” in Roberts R. Jane’s third edition Museums and the Paradox of Change. Using the Oakland Museum of California’s recent organizational transformation, Anderson’s essay outlined the enhancement of the societal role of museums through intelligent management and institutional change.

• An interview in Visitor Studies Association March 2011 e-Newsletter.

• An invited respondent in “Case Study: Looking at the Big Picture” in Board Member, Vol. 19. No. 3, May/June 2010 produced by BoardSource .

• An article entitled “A Perspective About Risk ” in The Informal Learning Review , No. 97, July – August 2009, published by Informal Learning Experiences, Inc.