Having moved from the museum world a decade ago, with a grad degree in art history and certification from a curatorial studies program, my ears perked up when I heard the term "curate" being used at a professional development workshop about a year ago to describe one of the aspects of our work as librarians. Wow," I thought, "I've actually been curating all these years!" The term "curation" has been used in the library and technology world to characterize the activity of the selection and organization of online apps, as well as physical collection development (what we choose to buy for our library and how to arrange it). Well, it seems that the term "curator" is no longer sacrosanct, and this has irked many who want to preserve its conventional meaning, i.e., a professional who is in charge of a museum or exhibit.
Apparently, the term was first bandied about in the fashion blogosphere. It could be applied to selecting merchandise for a boutique or arranging the shop windows. I dug up this amusing rant from 2011 on the misuse and abuse of the term in
An Open Letter to Everyone Using the Word 'Curate' Incorrectly on the Internet.
A "real" curator, Anne Pontegnie, from the Brussels Museum
Courtesy Wiki Commons
