Museums and the Paradox of Change: A Case Study in Urgent Adaptation. 2nd ed.

Mima Kapches is head of the Department of Anthropology at the Royal
Ontario Museum.

When Calgary’s Glenbow Museum lost a significant percentage of its
provincial funding, it was faced with the grim prospect of being forced
to close. In order to survive, the museum underwent a reorganization
that transformed its traditional structure—under which curators did
research while collections managers looked after collections—into a
system driven by dynamic, focused work groups comprising curators,
educators, and exhibition staff. The reorganization was not without its
downside: staff were laid off, job descriptions were changed, and
collections were deaccessioned (i.e., sold).

Robert Janes, who was the chief executive officer during the painful
but necessary reorganization, has written a careful and sensitive
account of the Glenbow’s transformation—a transformation that has
placed it in the vanguard of the new museum experience. Anyone
interested in the future of Canada’s museums should read this book.