The following directories are helpful resources to find museums of all types, nationally and internationally.  This is of interest to the museum studies student, because viewing a variety of exhibitions is vital for increasing awareness and understanding effectiveness.

American Association of Museums. The Official Museum Directory. 31^st ed. Vol. 1,2. Washington D.C.: American Association of Museums, 2001.

Davis Ref AM10.A2O4 2001 ~ 1^st floor Reference

Sloane Ref AM10.A2O4 2001 ~ 1^st floor Ready Reference

Volume 1 of this comprehensive directory encompasses all types of museums, which they define as anywhere from aquariums to planetariums to historic houses to zoos.  Listed in each entry is contact information, web site address, key personnel, collections, major exhibits, research fields, facilities, activities, publications, attendance and membership information.  The entries are listed by state, then by city, then alphabetical by institution.  It is extremely user-friendly, thorough, current and has an index.  Volume 2, Products and Services, is a separate directory that houses entries on vendors and information sources for museum products and services.  Relevant categories include exhibit design firms, exhibit fabricators, and exhibition equipment and services.  This is an indispensable source.

Edson, Gary. International Directory of Museum Training. New York: Routledge, 1995.

Davis AM7.E35 1995 ~ 2^nd floor

This directory is written by Gary Edson, who is chair of the AAM professional committee on museum professional training (COMPT), chair of the US committee on museology (US-ICOFOM) and secretary of the international committee for training of personnel (ICTOP).  Chapters discuss museum work today, standards and ethics for museum training programs, and has an international directory and reference guide of training programs, glossary of terms, surveys and a selected bibliography of museum training which is organized by discipline.  An index is not included.

Museum Sites Online

http://www.mcn.edu/sitesonline.htm

The Guide to Museums and Cultural Resources provides a comprehensive index for information about museums, aquaria, historical parks and other cultural institutions, with links to home pages of 1000 museum and museum related web sites internationally.  It is arranged alphabetically by name of institution, but does not have a search capability or sorting tool by geographic region.

North Carolina Exploring Cultural Heritage Online (NCECHO)

http://ncecho.org

North Carolina ECHO is a collaborative initiative of North Carolina's libraries, archives, and museums. This project seeks to provide North Carolinians, as well as scholars and researchers from around the world, greater access to the cultural resources of North Carolina.  With North Carolina ECHO, you can: Search an online directory of the cultural repositories of the state, explore North Carolina cultural repositories' Web-based finding aids and other holdings information, and search by subject across the Web resources created by the state's cultural institutions.