The Museum of London: July 14th 2008

(photo taken from The Museum of London's website

http://www.museumoflondon.org/)

Today we visited the Museum of London and received an wonderful presentation from John Cotton, Senior Curator of PreHistory at the museum. The Museum of London is the world's largest Urban History Museum and inhabited the new building in the 1960-1970's.

John Cotton really touched upon the network of partnerships and strategic thinking involved in museum collection development, organization of space, and marketing. For example, because the library has a large population of tourists, they have developed space tailoring to this demographic. The latter is reflected in the organization the exhibits and presentation of artifacts using a retail art gallery approach.

As Cotton's area of expertise is PreHistory, he provided insight into the value of understanding this population within the context of the following:

- Massive changes in the landscape through human and natural elements.
- The centrality of the Thames in the London Before London story.
- The dynamic and adaptable nature of those who dwelled here.
- The prehistoric legacy after AD 50.
(taken from handout provided by John Cotton)

There are three main design elements within the gallery: a Riverwall (blue hues), a Landscape Wall (poetry, quotes) and a series of wooden plinths that house the main artifacts on display. Cotton noted that it is the hope that a visitor will remember one key elements.

The London Before London Exhibition: The new gallery is only 5-years-old and we had the opportunity to view this space. Upon entering, the first thing I noticed was The Riverwall. This wall was organized chronologically and my appreciation for the artifacts displayed was heightened by Cotton's presentation and underlying passion for his area of expertise. I also found it interesting that those who currently dredge the water find holy relics in the Thames River. Furthermore, because we resided along the Thames, I found myself having a new appreciation for the River and its history when I spent moments alone wandering along its banks; in essence, the river is a living being with its own story.

Overall, because the exhibition space provides minimal written explanation of the artifacts, a visitor is allowed to make his or her own assertions about who theses people were, how they lived, and the innovations they made.

As a future librarian, this opportunity provided a chance to think about a library space and holdings in terms of organization of space and key ideas you want patrons to take away when visiting a library as well as partnerships that can be formed with a library and other community organizations to better serve patrons.