From the Director

Hard hats are worn regularly by museum staff these days, as we visit the construction site on a daily basis. Now that the exterior walls of the new wing are in place and interior gallery walls are taking shape, it becomes ever more critical for us to be involved with decisions about the precise placement of everything from pipelines for the fire suppression system to vents for the enhanced climate control system. Each of us can boast entirely new areas of expertise as a result of the research we've undertaken during the construction project. But we're eager to return to our "real" jobs!

By the time the fall Newsletter is published and mailed to you, the museum staff will have moved back from our temporary summer quarters at the Betty Shabazz Cultural Center. Once settled in our renovated offices, we will be turning our attention and energies to the work we love-caring for the museum's permanent collection and developing exhibitions, publications, and programs for our audiences on campus and beyond. Arrangements are in place for all 11,000 objects in the collection to be shipped back to the museum from four locations: three institutions where selected components of the collection have been on extended loan, the Colby College Museum of Art, the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, and the McMullen Museum at Boston College, as well as an art storage facility where we rented 5,000 square feet of climate-controlled, secure space. As each crate is opened, its packing list is checked against the art objects stored therein and each one is carefully unpacked and moved to its new location.

In the meantime, plans are well underway for the reinstallation of the galleries for Asian, ancient, and medieval/Renaissance art, as well as the print room, all of which will be located in the same spaces they were prior to the construction project. In addition, the staff will develop installation plans for four entirely new galleries-one for European and American art of the 17th- through mid-19th century art, a spacious L-shaped gallery for modern and contemporary art, a changing exhibitions gallery, a gallery for small works of art, and a study gallery.

These exciting developments resulting from the long-awaited renovation and expansion of the museum provide a special opportunity for all of us to reexamine issues central to our mission and identity as an academic museum. Over the past two years, the professional staff has taken time during annual retreats to reflect on institutional priorities, especially with respect to the ways we serve the faculty and staff of the College and other audiences. I have also conducted focus groups with faculty, student groups, the museum's advisory board, volunteers, and the senior staff of the College. I asked members of each group to tell me how they perceive the art museum, what they believe the museum does well, and in which areas we might be more effective. The entire process was designed not only to clarify our understanding of the role and function of the museum and what distinguishes it from other academic museums and more general public museums, but also to broaden awareness of the museum's collections and programs. A strategic planning document was created as a result of all these conversations, but I remain keenly interested in additional responses and opinions. If you have thoughts to share, please call me, dash off a quick note, or send an email to artmuseum@mtholyoke.edu. I look forward to hearing from you.

—Marianne Doezema

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