On Fri, 10 Feb 1995, Director wrote:
 
> Currently there is considerable interest in "re-engineered" institutions in
> developing performance measures - both effectiveness and efficiency.
> Performance measures however only have meaning when they are measured against
> a standard.  .... I am interested in any benchmarking exercise that
museums  might have undertaken in > the last while.
 
 
I undertook an exercise for myself (an MBA project) last year where I
tried to compare various Canadian museums using performance measures
suggested by a US museum administrator named Peter Ames.  A British
economist named Peter Jackson discussed the use of Ames' measures in the
context of economy, efficiency and effectiveness (the "value for money"
framework).  I used several measures and the framework to compare
operational aspects (e.g. revenue generation, exhibit costs, visitor
trends) of about 20 well-known museums.  I did this because I was and am
interested in looking for way to see how we're doing compared to others.
 
None of the measures I used dealt with the quality of programmes or of
visitor experience or with measuring increased knowledge, however.  The
quality type of measure does not, in my opinion, lend itself to comparison
with other institutions but rather to ones' own past performance or to
some future objective .  I noticed that at least one institution set out
these types of goals in its strategic pla.
 
While the museum data I used could not be considered entirely accurate, I
learned from the exercise that, if we have good/accurate information, we
can establish benchmarks for some aspects of museum operations through
comparative analysis. For instance, --Benchmarks or standards can be
established through taking the average performance indicated by a group of
museums, or --Standards can be established through using the average
performance indicated by a group of outstanding museums, or --standards
can be established through weighing present performance against past
performance.
 
I too would love to know what others are doing.
 
If anyone is interested, I have compiled a bibliography and I notice that
"A Bibliography of Museum Studies" edited by Simon Knell at the University
of Leicester (1994) has a listing of references on performance and on
institutional standards.
 
Anne-Marie Fenger (administrator)
UBC Museum of Anthropology
Vancouver, B.C.
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