Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Arts and Cultural Institutions: A Content Analysis

Abstract

Using a content analysis approach, this article shares the results of scholarly adult education study on museum and library adult education and learning as represented in peer-reviewed publications over the past 60 years. Findings show a paucity of studies in general, but particularly around libraries. The majority of publications on libraries were ‘non-research-oriented’, and published in the 1950s and 1960s; museums were all but ignored until studies began to appear in the 1990s. Early concerns focused on elitism and the educational role, while later studies began to debate social and interpretive issues. Although museum and libraries theorists call for critical discourses and studies, with few exceptions adult education research is dominated by liberal discourses. We conclude the article with a number of recommendations for future study in this important yet underresearched and undertheorized area.