Cultural heritage: UNESCO defines the cultural heritage as "the entire spirit of a people in terms of its values, actions, works, institutions, monuments and sites". Within this definition UNESCO recognises in particular:

• The tangible cultural heritage: including archaeological and other cultural sites, monuments, groups of buildings and whole historic cities, cultural landscapes, natural sacred sites, the underwater cultural heritage, museums, the movable cultural heritage of works of art and objects and collections of art, history and science, handicrafts, the documentary; digital and cinematographic heritage,
• The intangible cultural heritage: including oral traditions, languages, festive events, rites and belief, music and song, the performing arts, traditional medicine, literature, culinary traditions, and traditional sports and games.

Deaccession: The permanent removal of an object or collection from the holdings and records of a museum.

Design: An arrangement of forms and colours, or both, intended to be wrought out for use or ornament.

Direct marketing: Direct marketing are the promotion efforts that are directed towards a specified group or even specified individuals. While advertisements and public relations hit broad and uncontrolled, direct marketing is controlled and directed toward specific targets

Dealing: Buying and selling items for personal or institutional gain.

Documentation: All paper and other physical records and electronic records of information relating to an object or collection; the term is also used for the process of creating records pertaining to each object in a collection.

Due diligence: The requirement that every endeavour is made to establish the facts of a case before deciding a course of action, particularly in identifying the source and history of an item offered for acquisition or use before accepting it.

Designated funds: Funds set aside for specific purposes by action of the governing board.

Direct cost: Expense specifically associated with and identifiable by program, project, or activity.

Emergency plan: A document or other statement containing a written summary of measures and procedures used in accident and emergency management, i.e. a summary of planning, methodological and information documents used for decision making, management and co-ordination in such situations.

Employee: One who performs services for compensation and whose working conditions are set by the employer. Everyone who works for the museum, full-time and part-time employees.

Employee involvement: Process through which people exercise increased control over their work to improve the effectiveness of their organizations.

Endowment: Money not expended, but held for investment, with the earnings available for program activities, either generally or as restricted by the donor. The principal sum is kept intact, with only its income being expended.

Evaluation: Monitoring or assessing the extent to which a program or organization has met its goals and objectives.

Exhibition designer: Professionally trained person who creates forms and solutions to a structure or space for exhibition use. Someone who invents and prepares useful, decorative or artistic design.

Exhibition manager: Person in charge of the coordination of the implementation of an exhibition project.

Exhibition plan: Written description of construction stages of an exhibition.

Exhibition project: Written and drawn description of a proposed exhibition.

Expendable funds: Funds available to finance the museum's programs and services. That portion of fund balances not already spent on fixed assets and available for use in satisfying obligations.

Expenditure: Actual spending of money as distinct from the budget or funding allocated. In most government and accounting systems this is usually divided into

• Capital Expenditure: money spent on permanent or long-term assets, for example to buy, build, improve, or rehabilitate physical facilities or equipment, and
• Revenue Expenditure: all other current expenditure, such as staff pay and expenses, premises running costs and regular maintenance, taxes, transport, exhibit and collections expenditure.