The Local Museum Management in Songkhla Lake Basin in a case of Wat Hua Toei Local Museum, Don Sai sub-district, Pak Phayun district, Phatthalung province

Abstract

This study aims at capturing knowledge of local museum management processes, and illustrating the local museum management patterns of the local museum in Songkhla Lake Basin in a case of Wat Hua Toei Local Museum, Don Sai Sub-district, Pak Phayun District, Phatthalung Province. Specifically, this study followed the qualitative research paradigm using observations, interviews and group discussions to gather the data from four major groups of informants including local administrators, folk philosophers, local people and relevant organizations. The results showed that: 1) the local community administered the local museum with a participatory management pattern consisting of generating knowledge sharing forum to pilot the local museum management processes, writing cooperative memorandum of the local museum with connected parties, studying the local history and cultural heritage of the community, gathering the core of knowledge for dissemination, constructing an information recording of objects for preliminary conservation, organizing exhibition seminars to exhibit objects, exhibiting objects at the local museum, and holding meetings to create information document, community cultural map, media and permanent exhibition; and 2) in terms of the participatory pattern of local museum management, it specified three suitable models of museum tourism as i) Tourism Model ““Retrace the local history through Wat Hua Toei Local Museum”, ii) Tourism Model “Learning Art and local handicrafts through Wat Hua Toei Local Museum”, and iii) Tourism Model “Learning local wisdom for health care through Wat Hua Toei Local Museum”.