The University of Reading’s museums and collections will join museums and galleries from across the UK and Europe on Twitter later this month for the first ever #MuseumWeek, a project that will connect people to artwork, culture, history and science in new and interactive ways.

#MuseumWeek will take place from Monday 24th March – Sunday 30th March and will give Twitter users direct and unparalleled access to some of Europe’s leading museums and the people behind them in 140-characters bursts.

The  Museum of English Rural Life (@MERLReading), the Ure Museum of Greek Archaeology (@UreMuseum), the Cole Museum of Zoology (@ColeZoology) and the Herbarium (@RNGherb) will join other UK organisations already signed up, including the Science Museum (@sciencemuseum), the Natural History Museum (@NHM_London), the Victoria and Albert Museum (@V_and_A), the British Museum (@britishmuseum), Eureka! The National Children’s Museum (@eurekamuseum) and the Tate (@Tate).

The University’s museums and collections will join others across the UK and Europe by including the hashtag #MuseumWeek in their Tweets for the week, meaning users can follow along on Twitter. In addition, every day there will be a different theme including #MuseumSelfies, #AskTheCurator, and #MuseumMemories.

Alison Hilton, MERL Marketing Officer, says “This is an great opportunity for the University’s museums and collections to take part in an international campaign. We are planning some exciting features for the week. Alastair Culham, Curator of the Herbarium will be doing a live #AsktheCurator session from a fieldcourse in Spain, and staff at MERL will be taking followers into parts of the museum not usually seen by the public! We will also be encouraging followers to get involved by tweeting their photos, reviews and questions throughout the week.”

A full list of participating UK organisations can be viewed here

Mar Dixon (@MarDixon), an expert in social media and museums and host of the @CultureThemes project, said: “Every day of the year museums and cultural institutions across the world are using Twitter in exciting and interesting ways to tell the stories of their collections to new audiences.  “#MuseumWeek will shine a light on these activities, giving a real-time glimpse into the workings of museums across the UK and Europe, 140 characters at a time.”