Museology is the science of running a museum,
most frequently applied to the operations of the museum dealing
with its collections rather than its administration or business
operations.
A museum is ultimately a place where items of interest are kept.
Most museums also have galleries, where items of interest are
displayed. There are museums for almost every interest, from
science to lingerie, and there are also galleries of every kind -
but not every gallery is attached to a museum.
Items displayed in a gallery may belong to a private party, or a
company, or an institution other than the gallery itself. The
inventory of items kept in a gallery may be constantly changing.
The gallery itself may never have a legal title of ownership for an
item on display. The emphasis of a gallery is on presentation, and
often on selling.
The emphasis of a museum may be almost anything, but usually one of
the goals of a museum is to educate its constituency about the area
of interest it represents - and a museum keeps items useful to this
goal in its collection. The inventory of a museum collection may
(but is less likely to) be constantly changing, but there is a
focus and a central concept to guide what is taken in and what goes
out. The museum may possess items on loan from individuals,
companies, or other institutions - however, the museum is very
likely to own, or have a legal role as perpetual guardian of, the
majority of the items in its care. The museum may have no
obligation to display its collection; it may only be available to
researchers, for example.
It is the process of keeping these items of interest, and the
additional process of educating a constituency, that is usually
encompassed by the term museology.