On co-operation between MLAs and "participative thinking" in MLAs

An intresting blog on related topics:) It is mostly in Estonian, but the links' content it refers to is mostly in English.

A hint for myself. There´s an Institute of Museum and Library Services in the United States. I wonder how they (in the US) have come so far that they have a common institute for both libraries and museums? What kind of developments have lead them to form this institution (and I think I found web sites of other similar institutions during my master studies)?

In Estonia, museums, libraries and archives are considered very different, common activities are rare. Though both museums and libraries (except school & university libraries) are financed by Culture Ministry the relations between them seem to "walk on thin ice". There was a project "The Red Book of Estonian Publications 1535-1850" when different museums, libraries and archives joined for cooperation, but I don´t remember other significant projects. As I found out in 2006, people in different MIs find "inter-memory-institutional" cooperation an idea worth considering. But what would be the content of this cooperation? Why bother

Different opinions were sprouting during interviews then:

• the librarians (perhaps because they had similar background with me?) were interested in the idea of common information repository or database (in the sense of OPAC),
• co-operation on exchanging information about MIs themselves would be useful,
• co-operation during planning different public events (exhibitions, literary and music events), for an example timing key events so that they wouldn´t take place on the same day,
• consultations, travelling exhibitions, borrowing items for exhibitions from each other, finding "guest lecturers" would also be activities where co-operation is needed,
• co-operation between museums themselves and between museums and educational institutions in Tartu would also need imroving.

During interviews I was introducing different forms of co-operation I found in the CALIMERA Tool-Kit´s Case Studies: the idea of annual seminars for MLAs was considered most realistic. There is one "but". The initiative of having such a seminar should come from the MLA staff itself, but during the interviews I sensed (not scientific word, right?) lack of such initiative.

Maybe I am unfair (and any comments to disprove the following idea are welcomed!), but seemed like people from MLAs were expecting "someone else" or "someone from above" to held this event. Perhaps their expectations to the seminar were very high and therefore no-one dared to say "ok, it´s a good idea, let´s do it!". Perhaps their workload was just heavy and it was hard to find time even for my interview, let alone organizing an event. And of course there is again the question: what would be the purpose of the seminar (for example)?

As for the start, the seminar would be a meeting place to start mapping the common interests. A viewpoint outside of Estonia could be refreshing. I wonder if the people I interviewed have visited any common MLA events abroad during those 2 years? If yes, then what events those might be? Those 2 questions are too tiny and practical for any research, but here comes broader research topic: cultural participation in memory institutions of Estonia could also involve the "participative thinking" of MLA staff itself.

My hypothesis is that if the MLA staff itself is encouraged to visit different seminars and activities that involve participation, it it psychologically easier for the staff to encourage visitors of MLAs to participate culturally. So it´s a matter of organisational culture, of communication, and of participation inside the MI (compared to the participation enabled to visitors in the MI).