Measuring Museums

Finding the Right Yardstick:

Standards in Museums

What are Standards? To you?

To your stakeholders?

Why are they important?

Why? Successful institution (how do you

measure success?) Internally satisfactory level of

performance (what is that level?) Progress, growth

Why? Define desired results Benefit of others' experience, best

practises Ease of knowledge transfer between

institutions (including people)

De jure and De facto De jure standards are approved by

an authoritative body (e.g., IEEE 802.3ae Ethernet)

De facto standards are what everybody uses(e.g., Microsoft Windows®)

Standards are Individual A unique Standards Portfolio can

allow you to select what is important Pick standards that will provide the

most direct benefit Museum standards are not De Jure,

but adopting standards helps the whole community grow

Other ways of measuring Norms Value added, or growth Hybrid

Standards-Based Accountability

Align your standards with others Create a rating system Report on performance Get/provide assistance Create consequences

Some Standards

“there is no single set of standards--such as a fixed, concrete checklist of specific criteria--against which museums are measured”

Basic museum requirements Also covers: mission, governance, collections

stewardship, interpretation and presentation, administration and finance

AAM’s AccreditationCriteria and Characteristics

Some Standards

International Standards Organization (ISO) 9000:2000

A family of three standards that “form a basis for continual improvement and business excellence” by establishing quality management systems

Use to assess your ability to meet customer and applicable regulatory requirements and thereby address customer satisfaction

Summary: What to do? Create an individual standards

portfolio Cover: human, business, technology,

collections, ethical Create a staged implementation Review your progress regularly