I thank everyone who commented on my post about the verb “museumize”. I need it in order to compare the professional language of museum workers of different parts of the world.

Now we are trying to define certain terms for scientific use… at the same time I am looking for equivalents in English and other languages in order to see regional peculiarities of the usage.

In Russia we have “museology”, “museum studies” and so called “museum affairs” (Музейное дело, muzeinoe delo). The first two terms are usually used as synonyms. The last term is a way that the Russians tend to translate it, but I have a strong feeling that “museum affairs” does not really mean what we are trying to say.

I saw the term “museum affairs” in Google, and I noticed that “museum affairs” is something different, but I still cannot define it… sounds like some kind of administrative museum work.

I am trying to find the closest equivalent to our Russian term. With this word we characterize all the work that takes place in a museum – educational, fund, etc.

We divide our “muzeinoe delo” into practical and theoretical parts. By practical I mean all of the work that is done in a museum. And the theoretical part is close to museology, ‘cause it concerns the theoretical basics of museum work, also it is a branch of learning (university discipline).