Visitor experience has been a long neglected aspect of museum practise, receiving less academic attention than areas such as exhibition design or collections care. Despite this, the quality of the visitor experience is the single biggest factor which will influence visitors returning to your museum, or recommending a visit to friends or family.

It is also the area of museum practise that has undergone the biggest change in the last twenty years. The image of the aged security warder shouting at children to not touch the exhibits has long gone. Now, museum visitors expect teams of friendly, knowledgeable and passionate people ready to engage them with the museum in an interactive and enthusiastic way. Expectations have never been higher, and as they grow, museums must develop the visitor experiences they deliver in order to meet them.

The book discusses the process of delivering a visitor experience from beginning to end; from opening a new visitor offer and building a team through to future planning and strategies for development. It draws from theories from practitioners and academics, arguing that by examining issues such as motivation and relevance, museum operators can start to truly put themselves in their visitors’ shoes and build experiences that are impactful and unforgettable.

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'Delivering the Visitor Experience: How to Create, Manage and Develop an Unforgettable Visitor Experience at Your Museum" by museum curator expert Rachel Mackay is an ideal instruction manual and guide for all museum curators, both experienced and inexperienced alike -- making it an essential, core addition to personal, professional, and academic library Library/Museum Information Science collections and supplemental Library Science/Museum Management curriculum studies lists.'

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'The author often uses informal language throughout which makes the book very accessible and unpretentious, and this ensures the book is appropriate for both a current and an aspiring manager.'

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'Every chapter has an accompanying case study which offers excellent examples of advice in action. Each is chosen for a specific theme with both good and bad points highlighted to teach the reader. They put the preceding chapter into context, especially where the author draws on her own experiences.'