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The continuous development of mobile platforms provides the opportunity to integrate and improve existing applications or to introduce new features to make life better. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the use of mobile platforms in civilization (museums) and present the design and the implementation of a mobile application that satisfies various design criteria. Through this application the visitor can navigate and tour virtually in the museum through a smartphone. In addition, features have been included in the application that make it easier for a user to visit the museum. First, we present the operating parameters and the aesthetic presentation of the application, which delimits usability and ease of access through the interfaces of a smartphone. Then we highlight the cloud features that were exploited in the application. Then, an extended evaluation of the mobile application is presented, that proves its high applicability and user acceptability.

For a field approaching a critical period of reappraisal and rethinking of methods, user education is well served by secondary material. A definitive history of training in the use of the library by Bonn in 1960 has been followed by a steady flow of review articles on the subject. Tidmarsh in 1968 concentrated on instruction in the use of academic libraries. After briefly tracing the historical background in Britain and America she went on to describe developments in Britain in theory and practice following the proposals of the Library Association University and Research Section in 1949 for a three‐stage user education programme. She concluded her review with a discussion of the three main problems that were then, and to a certain extent still are, hampering the spread of user education—inadequate finance, lack of timetabled time, and indifference of academic staff. Mews reviewing developments in teaching the use of books and libraries, again with reference to British academic libraries for the period 1966–70, examined courses reported during that period paying particular attention to instruction for new students and undergraduates. Trends she noted included a move to the use of audio‐visual aids and to the appointment of information officers, bringing new opportunities for person‐to‐person enquiries. Surveying current practice in 1970 Pugh noted many difficulties faced by library instruction programmes at the time. These problems were taken up by Scrivener in a significant article describing instruction in library use as a persisting problem. ‘The welter of writing shows clearly the extent of interest in the subject and equally clearly that it is a problem (or complex of problems) to which no generally accepted solutions have been found.’ In America the approaches to teaching library skills to college students have been studied by Dudley, a study which included descriptions of two accredited courses at the Berkeley and Los Angeles campuses of the University of California. More recently Givens after discussing the history of the role of the library in user education studied the educational developments of the ‘sixties and the libraries’ response. He discussed the componsnets of a user education programme and the rethinking and reorganization that would be required to achieve that programme.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new management approach to analyse the processes of museums in the experience logic and, on the basis of such a model, to study the management processes of the National Gallery of the Marches in Urbino, one of the most important museums in Italy.

This study adopted a qualitative methodology and a descriptive-exploratory approach. The proposed model, which aimed to create and manage experiences and transformations in museums, was tested in the National Gallery of the Marches by adopting the case study method.

The empirical research underlined the partial application of the proposed model in the museum under examination and the potential for the museum to improve the offering value to its visitors.

Although a single case was investigated, the present work offers a preliminary theoretical contribution, which is useful for perfecting the conceptual framework and applying it to a wider number of cases.

The management of the National Gallery of the Marches should first plan a greater number of more detailed experiences and transformations around the theme of the Renaissance, and promote the active role of visitors. Second, it should improve the communication of the offer, especially through social networks. Third, personnel (especially front office) should be motivated and trained to create value for visitors.

The paper aims at developing a new management approach for the museums to create value for the visitors and museums by bringing the insight of the experience logic into the field of cultural heritage management.

With the growth of number of smart phone users in India, digital interfaces such as android applications are easy to access and operate. While conventional websites have been in existence over the past few decades, government schemes as well as non-government entities have emerged over the recent years that create opportunities for connecting digital interfaces with cultural heritage tourism. The purpose of this study is to attempt to cover the various facets of interaction between the two dimensions, in an attempt to identify possibilities in the near future.

The research process included review of government scheme guidelines and proposal documents, and various digital interfaces as available on the World Wide Web and in the form of mobile applications. The data collection and analysis process included interviews with the founders of two mobile application developing start-ups in India.

India is positioned to take the leap into the creating unparalleled visitor experiences and opportunities for local communities and other stakeholders through use of technology and digital interfaces that can sustain the cultural heritage resources and create new developmental models that have not been possible otherwise. The need is to create synergies across the various opportunities, not only though time bound schemes and projects but embedding the same into the heritage management and governance model.

This paper provides an insight into the issues and opportunities in developing digital interfaces towards enhancing cultural heritage tourism in India.

This bibliography covers materials published during 1976, with some 1975 entries omitted from last year's listing. Citations from a number of foreign countries are included if published in English. A few items were not available for annotation. The growing interest in library use instruction is evident from the fact that the number of entries has doubled over those included in the bibliography for 1975.

This paper explores two museums in Taiwan, both former sites of incarceration, and asks how they reflect Taiwan’s evolving relationship with the past. Taiwan has successfully emerged from its authoritarian past into a democratic present; yet, it still bears the scars of its traumatic and violent history in the places where trauma and pain was exacted over Taiwanese people by different regimes. Two of these places are former prisons, now museums with common histories of incarceration, but very different approaches to presentation of traumatic pasts. This paper aims to understand the selective presentation of narratives of punishment in prison museums in Taiwan and what they reflect about Taiwan’s national identity.

This research used a qualitative ethnographic methodology, approaching prison museums as research sites with multidimensional textual, spatial and visual data. This study used a narrative ethnology approach to analyse the content, structure and social context surrounding the stories told about punishment at the sites.

While the Jingmei White Terror Memorial Park documents past abuses under the authoritarian Kuomindang Government (1945–1987), the narratives presented at the Chiayi Prison Museum, constructed under Japanese colonial rule (1895–1945), ignore past colonial violence. This study argues that the invisibility of past colonial violence in Chiayi prison museum acts to strengthen Taiwan’s multicultural national identity, while Jingmei WTMP acts to valorise political prisoners as heroic fighters for Taiwan’s democracy and human rights.

This research makes a contribution to the museum studies literature through extending understanding of the relationship between former carceral spaces and national identity projects.

This paper aims to examine the use of different mobile devices by libraries to develop programs for information skills training, focusing on the application of quick response (QR) codes for such a purpose.

The study was developed in two stages; primarily an analysis of the literature was conducted to determine the theoretical framework underlying the use of this tool for information literacy. The second part examined the practical application of this tool, with examples of several university libraries. In all, 13 academic libraries were included as the sample, which were chosen randomly from a global search on the Internet under the thematic basis for the theme of the study and thus evaluate the different employment opportunities of mobile telephony in developing skills information on users. The study is complemented with an assessment from the practice of the applicability of the principles described, arriving at conclusions and recommendations.

The purpose of the study is to recognize the use given to mobile technologies from libraries, particularly the use of QR codes, to help meet the demands of users in relation to skills training information, just as you may have the need.

The benefits of the use of mobile devices for the development of information literacy actions are identified and the set of actions that can be implemented for training information skills through the use of QR codes are set based on all outlined by the Association of College and Research Libraries goals.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the enotourism sector, which is likely to continue to accelerate. As a product, it is well aligned with the hospitality and tourism industry.

The paper is based on information drawn from official sources.

In Porto, the Fladgate Partnership is currently developing a World of Wine concept which will bring together a number of attractions inside the old Port lodges in the centre of the city.

In a world looking for new experiences, enotourism is one of the few types of tourism that can literally touch all the senses.

This viewpoint note aims to discuss the challenges and the suggestions of using assistive technologies to improve the accessibility for travellers with disabilities and their companions at heritage cities.

The viewpoint note used the narrative approach which conceptualised accessible tourism, challenges and solutions of using assistive technologies for improving the heritage cities visit experience of travellers with disabilities.

The viewpoint note discussed three challenges (physical, informational and attitudinal) and three approaches of accessible platform, navigation system, and accessible and interactive heritage interpretation solutions for accessible heritage cities.

The viewpoint note presents the expert opinion of authors who investigated the accessibility issue in heritage cities. The first author of this note is a person with disabilities who has been living and studying about experience of travellers with disabilities at many heritage cities. The other author is an expert in heritage tourism.

Purpose: In the experience economy, the main challenge for museums is not only to attract visitors but also to preserve artworks. Given this circumstance, this chapter aims to offer an overview of how these cultural organisations have emerged as labs of the future culture, where all kind of technological experiments are tested so as to fulfil their mission.

Design/methodology/approach: This chapter is based on extensive literature review on issues related to robots, artificial intelligence and service automation (RAISA) in the museum sector. Examples illustrate the role of technology in the experience design and preservation of cultural resources.

Findings: 1) A chronological framework of museums’ orientations is established to understand the evolution toward the technology-driven present period. 2) Robots, artificial intelligence and service automation have a meaningful contribution to make in guaranteeing visitor arrivals. 3) This technological phase requires a tourism workforce with new skills.

Research limitations/implications: Few academic studies concerning to the use of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation in the museum sector were found. Hence, more empirical studies are required to completely corroborate the chapter’s suggestions.

Practical implications: An enlightening path for the service design of multisensory and participatory is proposed, as a useful guide for heritage managers, marketing practitioners and tourism planners.

Originality/value: Museum management has been always receiving the attention of managers, policymakers, scholars, among others. Insights of how technology enhances heritage preservation and the improvement of museum services throughout numerous examples can direct them to increase knowledge and adopt these practices.