Regarding Janice Frater's request for information on standards/
accreditation/ registration/ guideline schemes for museums and art
galleries, Doug Hoy recommended that you contact the Alberta Museums
Association. Thank you, Doug, for recommending us. We should have jumped
into the discussion sooner, but I will briefly outline here our projects
in standards.

Basically, we have addressed the achievement of standards of museum
practice through the development and publication of the Standard Practices
Handbook for Museums and through an Achievement Program.

The Handbook and its accompanying booklet of Self-Evaluation Checklists
was developed in 1990 with a twofold aim: to codify museum practice for a
largely volunteer-driven museum community and to define standards of
practice at the basic, intermediate and advanced levels.  While being
aware that the Checklists could be used as an appraisal tool, we knew that
our community was not ready for external, expert appraisal and, therefore,
presented them as a self-evaluation tool. A number of museums in Alberta
are using the Checklists in this fashion.  For example, museums regularly
refer to the Handbook and Checklists in grant applications to our
quarterly, peer-adjudicated grants program.  As well, we promote the use
of the Handbook in our publications and workshops.

Since publication of the Handbook, a Standards Committee working with
myself began to develop what we have described as an Achievement Program.
We focused on the six functional areas described in the Handbook and began
to define performance measures/ indicators. At our Association's Annual General
Meeting, we produced a draft of one section that dealt with museum's
public trust and public service responsibilities. We have hired a
consultant to fine-tune and further develop this draft document as well as
produce a second edition of the Handbook. It is our intention to make the
Achievement Program manual an appraisal tool, which can be used by museums
or an external appraisal authority. As to whether the Association
ultimately uses the Program as an institutional accreditation tool, the
decision rests with my Board.

I hope this information helps Janice Frater in her search. If you would
like to discuss any of these areas further, feel free to contact me
directly.

Adriana  Davies
Executive Director
Alberta Museums Association
9829 - 103 Street
Edmonton, Alberta T5K 0X9
email: [log in to unmask]  OR [log in to unmask]
phone: (403) 424-2626
fax: (403) 425-1679