>I understood that Francois was not asking for Visitor Studies or Audience
>Research and Evaluation but museum performance evaluation. Maybe my mistake.
>Otherwise I could have mailed

Dear Friedrich Waidacher, dear Kathrin Walker.

Thank you for your mail and the list. You were totally right. I was of
course looking for other meanings of the evaluation concept than the
traditional "visitor Studies" concept. I know that there is a considerable
literature  (much more than 300 articles)  on the latter topic.These
concepts were of course not invented by museum people. But I would like to
know when they first APPEARED in the museum literature since I would like
to prepare a small historic review of the topic.

One of the most recent evaluation concepts is of course connected with
general management theory, and especially performance indicators. Among the
EARLIEST references, I found the book of Hendon (1979) which (as far as I
remember) is quoted by Weil (1995) and Jackson (1991), as a kind of
pioneering work in this field. But I would like to know if this conception
was used before 1979. If it was, it must have been in the United States,
but when and where?

May I also ask you the same question concerning the "self evaluation"
concept, (used by the Accreditation Program), which entails more than just
the use of public surveys. When did it appear?


Thank you very much in advance.
Kind regards

Francois.


P.S. Friedrich, I saw your book on museology in Brno, during an ISSOM session.
(Und es hat mich sehr beeindruckt.) It seems to be impossible to order it
from Belgium. How would it be possible to buy it (and the diskette) ?
P.P.S.By the way, Kathrin, I would be very glad to receive the information
concerning the session on Measuring Quality and Mission fulfillment given
at the Museum of the Rockies.

FRANCOIS MAIRESSE
Université Libre de Bruxelles
CEME-CP 139
Av. F.D.Roosevelt, 50
1050 Bruxelles
Belgium
tel. 32 2 650 36 88
fax. 32 2 650 40 12
e-mail. [log in to unmask]