Non-visitors: who are they, why is it important to know them?

Who are the non-visitors in a museum? Why is it important to know them? The answers to these questions inspired the following study, that has been conducted both on a theoretical and practical basis. The results of this research, despite the fact of not having a representative value, have an extremely important documental value. The data collection shows some almost surprising facts, such as the insufficient knowledge about what a museum is. More than half of the interviewed supplied a totally wrong definition for museum. The study of the non-visitor also represents an opportunity to rethink the organization of the museum itself. The first goal of this study is to investigate the main characteristics of non-visitors and the reasons why they don’t visit museums, thus preventing museums from exploiting the educational function that is part of their mission. The educational role of museums is fundamental to fight illiteracy. In a theoretical context, where museums play such an important role in society, the study of non-visitors represents the first important step in order to understand the endogenous limits that prevent its educational function.

Keywords:Non-visitor, non visitors study, non visitor portrait, museum for non visitor, museum education.

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  DOI: 10.3280/CAD2017-002011
• Creating customer, museum and social value through digital technologies: Evidence from the MANN Assiri project Filomena Izzo, Ida Camminatiello, Pasquale Sasso, Ludovico Solima, Rosaria Lombardo, in Socio-Economic Planning Sciences 101502/2023 pp.101502
  DOI: 10.1016/j.seps.2022.101502

Irene Presta, Non-visitors: who are they, why is it important to know them? in "CADMO" 1/2010, pp 49-61, DOI: 10.3280/CAD2010-001005