UCL Institute of Archaeology

• PhD
• Emeritus Reader, Museum and Heritage Studies
• Committee, EVA London Conference

Research Interests

• Access to and utility of museum collections: the reasons for keeping museum collections, and the benefits of doing so; innovative ways of using and accessing museum collections
• The use of information and communications technologies for museum and other cultural purposes: information analysis, multimedia interfaces and conceptual design; user requirements and usability
• Social and political context for museums, including the effects of government policy on their operations
• Values of culture, including objects and collections, cultural organisations and landscape

Collaborations

• UK LASSI project, which produced a specification for a collections management system that would cover the needs of all UK museums, and subsequently to negotiate the procurement of that system. (to 1996)
• The Netful of Jewels project: with UK national museums, to produce a report that set out the future for museum digitisation. (to 1999)
• E-Culture Net: European Network of Excellence project working to develop access to Europe’s cultural heritage through a Distributed European Electronic Resource (DEER); European Masters' in digital culture, and a Research Matrix analysing relevant research.   Representative for the UK. (to 2003)

Background

• Institute of Archaeology, London: Diploma in Archaeological conservation (1969) PhD, UCL: Information for managing conservation in museums (1993)
• Conservator, then Editor, medieval finds volume, Winchester Research Unit  (1969-1977)
• Head of Conservation, the Museum of London (1980-1990)
• Head of Department, the Museum of London (1980-1992)
• Head of Collections Management, the Science Museum (1992-2000)

Books

• Keene, S, 2005. Fragments of the world: uses of museum collections. Butterworth Heinemann.
• Keene, S, 2002. Managing Conservation in Museums (2nd revised edn).  Butterworth Heinemann.
• Keene, S, 1998. Digital Collections: Museums in the Information Age. Butterworth Heinemann

Reports

• Keene, S, and Monti, F, 2003. The DEER: Distributed European Electronic Resource FINAL REPORT. In: E-Culture Net: Work Package 6, Deliverable 11a. IST-2001-37491. http://www.eculturenet.org

• Keene, S (ed), 1999. A Netful of Jewels: New Museums in the Learning Age. National Museums Directors' Conference (1999).

Multimedia and web

• Museums and the Information Age. Portal website. A resource within ADAM, the Art & Design Media Gateway (1998-present)
• Exploring Materials CD ROM (ed.). Science Museum (1998)

Articles

• Keene, S, 2005. Out of the dark. Museums Journal (August). pp 26-29.
• Keene, S, 2005. Managing collections in store. In: Magasinbygningens fysk og funktion. Museumshojskolen, Soro, Danmark. 18-22 october 2004. Postprint. Nordisk Konservator Forbund, Danmark. 4 pp.
• Keene, S, 2005. Collections: treasure or trash? In: Politics and positioning. Museums Australia Conference, Sydney. Museums Australia.
• Keene, S, 2004. City histories revealed. Literary and Linguistics Computing 19, 351-371. 2004. 20pp.
• Keene, S, 2004. The future of the museum in the digital age. ICOM News 57, 3, 2004. p.4. 1p.
• Keene, S, 2004. Communicating city histories. Archaeology International 2003-2004, 57-9. 3pp.
• Keene, S, 2003. A DEER for Europe: a Distributed European Electronic Resource. in: EVA London 2003: proceedings. Vasari: London.
• Keene, S, 2002. Digital preservation: confronting tomorrow’s problems today. The Conservator, No.26, 2002.
• Keene, S, 2002. Surviving the sands of time: Preservation of digital cultural objects, in: K.Ono, K. (ed.). Proceedings of the Tokyo Symposium for Digital Silk Roads, National Centre of Sciences, Tokyo, December 2001. National Institute of Informatics., pp. 171-178.
• Keene, S, 2002. In your dreams: digital media bring to life real collections. In: Scanning the Horizon: Proceedings of the mda conference, Norwich, 2002. mda Information, Vol.6, no.1, pp 113-116.
• Keene, S, 2002. Now you see it, now you won’t. In: D.Bearman and J.Trant, eds. Museums and the Web 2002. Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. URL: http://www.archimuse.com/mw2002/abstracts/prg_170000679.html.
• Keene, S, 2001. Introducing the Netful. In: Delivering Diversity: Promoting Participation. Proceedings of the mda conference, London, September 1999. mda Information 5, no. 3, pp 11-14.
• Keene, S, 2000. Museums in the Digital Space, Cultivate Interactive, issue 2, October URL: http://www.cultivate-int.org/issue2
• Keene, S, 2000. 'Scientific Instruments: Appearance and Evidence'. In: The Restoration of Scientific Instruments, Proceedings of the workshop held in Florence, December 14-15 1998. Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza with Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence
• Keene, S, 1999. Book review: Risk Assessment for Object Conservation, Jonathan Ashley-Smith. National Preservation Office Journal, 5
• Keene, S, 1998. Public Awareness, Audiences and Markets: Survey of Information Currently Available, in Report on the Work of the Memorandum of Understanding on Multimedia Access to Europe's Cultural Heritage, Working Group 2. EC DG X and DG XIII, Brussels