ISS 25 (1995).pdf - The International Council of Museums

climate around them, and once this need is recognised, they then can advocate it.
Museum institutions face the problem of responding slowly to changes in the
infrastructure that supports them, yet through their exhibits they have proved to be
reflectors of change that can also take a proactive approach (Johnson, 1992; Kulik, 1992).
It could be argued that museum professionals are not specifically qualified to suggest
how individuals, cultures, or nations should behave. However, research carried out in
museums, the collections on which this research is based, and the production of
education programs and exhibits that are the vehicle for this presentation of this
knowledge contradict this argument (Ladkin, 1993).
Adaptations are adjustments that occur in species with respect to environmental forces,
producing an adaptive response. These adaptations can be made genetically, as in
natural selection, culturally, or environmentally. Museums can change their behaviour
to better operate in their communities. They have, for example, adapted to the need for
greater public accountability by devising and adhering to codes of ethics. They also
have increased visitor numbers through the production of attractive public
programmes.
A niche is a functional position of a species in an environment, that includes habitat,
timeframe of occurrence and resources gathered there. Museums have the unique role
of holding collections and making them public through exhibit and research. Other
entities, such as royal families and religious institutions, may hold collections, but may
not necessarily make them publicly available, . Niches also can overlap somewhat in a
4iverse community, so museums may share niches with other species having similar
functions, such as those relating to education, public policy, tourism and development,
aesthetic appreciation, intellectual stimulation, and political empowerment.
Diversity is the measurement of the richness of a community or area. A high level of
diversity is associated with stable climax communities that have undergone
uninterrupted development. Diversity produces stability because the community
ecosystem has relatively little dependence on any single element. Diversity of both
representation and appeal currently is strongly urged by the museum community (Karp
and Lavine, 1991: Rice, 1993). Museums are both evidence of a diverse community with
attendant stability, and its advocate.
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