The NHS has recently completed a rigorous Museum Assessment Program, sponsored by the American Association of Museums.
The Museum Assessment Program (MAP) helps improve operations through a consultative process. The AAM provides guidance in meeting priorities and goals and understanding how the museum compares to standards and best practices. Participating in MAP can help an institution:
- prioritize goals for resource allocation,
- document needs in order to make a stronger case to funders,
- strengthen the organization through the adoption of museum best practices.
Excerpt from the assessment:
The NHS collections are significant and require a great deal of care and maintenance, from architectural drawings to photographs to textiles to 17th-century buildings. NHS staff is working very hard to fundraise and to establish priorities and projects that improve collections care.
As the NHS staff themselves have identified in their self-assessment, they are working with very limited resources with a very large collections, plus historic sites. Improving collections storage, assessing conservation needs, and continuing with collections planning are all crucial projects for the success of NHS.
Margaret Tamulonis, Mgr of Collections & Exhibitions, Robert Hull Fleming Museum, University of Vermont
