Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience

John H. Falk is a leading figure in free-choice learning, museum research, and science education in the United States. He holds the position Sea Grant Professor of Free-Choice Learning at Oregon State University. He is founder and President Emeritus of the renowned research firm, Institute for Learning Innovation in Annapolis, Maryland and has worked at a variety of other key positions in the museum world, including 14 years at the Smithsonian Institution. Falk earned a joint doctorate in Biology and Education from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of over one hundred scholarly articles and chapters in the areas of biology, psychology and education. He co-authored with Lynn Dierking of The Museum Experience, Learning from Museums: Visitor Experiences and the Making of Meaning, and Lessons without Limit: How Free-Choice Learning is Transforming Education; co-authored with Beverly Sheppard the volume Thriving in the Knowledge Age: New Business Models for Museums and Other Cultural Institutions; and has edited numerous books including Free-Choice Science Education: How We Learn Science Outside of School, and In Principle-In Practice: Museums as Learning Institutions.

Part I - Theory, 1. Introduction: Museums and Their Visitors, 2. The Museum, 3. The Visitor, 4. The Visit, 5. Satisfaction, 6. Memories, 7. The Museum Visitor Experience Model, Part II - Practice, 8. Theory to Practice, 9. Attracting and Building Audiences, 10. Making Museums Work for Visitors, 11. Institutional Value and Accountability, Notes, References, Index, About the Author