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Scotland holds first museum summit
Scotland's 60 museum leaders convened in Stirling earlier this week to debate how best to address the challenges facing the sector.
The conference focused on how the nation's industrial and voluntary museums can be sustained and how funding and limited resources can be better distributed between national and local museums.
Leading the convention, culture minister Michael Russell said: "This summit presents a real opportunity for new thinking about how we understand museums in Scotland, how we work together, and how best we can tell the story of this country and its people.
"While we have the Scottish Government's Recognition Scheme - which allows the 33 collections recognised as being of national significance to apply to a special funding stream - there remains an obvious divide between local and national provision of museum services.
"The gap in the middle is seeing many excellent and nationally significant museums and collections facing up to difficult challenges.
"Equally important, we will be examining how the museums sector can best work together to make the most of the finite resources available in this difficult economic climate."