Site seeing: Museums on the net

By MONIKA FRY

Many museums have internet sites. This is handy for travellers who like to do research before visiting a country. Most sites list opening days and hours, details of how to find the museum, commentary, pictures of collections, and hints such as the hours when admission is free.

A wide-ranging hunt using a search engine such as Yahoo will display a staggering number of museums worldwide.

Narrow the search with a museum directory such as the Art Museums Network or the Museum Network.

The A to Z of museums in the United Kingdom can be found at MuseumNet. Or if your interests are not featured there, another United Kingdom directory is Museum Finder.

Such directories list information about museums and their collections, exhibitions, and services enabling surfers to fine-tune their searching.

Further fine-tuning is possible with the help of a search button that usually features on a site's homepage. This timesaving device lets you immediately find out whether the site holds the information you want. Dropdown menus also help narrow a search.

Many of the museums also feature good-quality souvenir and design shops. For those who are more interested in the goods than the museum, the Museum Shop website displays an inventory of gifts from museums around the world and has links to 40 museum gift shops worldwide, from the Louvre to the Children's Museum in Boston.

Links

Yahoo

Art Museums Network

Museum Network

MuseumNet

Museum Finder

Museum Shop