Understanding use : objects in museums of science and technology / edited by Tim Boon, Elizabeth Haines, Arnaud Dubois, and Klaus Staubermann ; managing editor, Kristin Frederick-Frost, Smithsonian Institution.

"This volume proposes a way of thinking, and of developing practice, around three varieties of the use of science and technology museum objects: first, the ways that machines, instruments and equipment were used in their pre-museum 'lives' (which use provides the most frequent reason for their acquisition); second, the ways in which museum staff employ objects in their 'museum lives', when they are members of collections. Thirdly there is also the possibility of reconceptualizing museum visitors as users of collections and displays, in which guise visitors would also have something in common with the objects' original users and also with the curators of the middle category. We suggest that thinking of museum objects in these ways, in terms of use, could constitute a coherent approach to doing museum work that would enrich the wider project of science and technology museums"-- Provided by publisher.