Jan af Burén wrote:
>
>
>
> Some time ago Steve Lubar sent a question to the MUSUEM-L if anyone
> knows something about the application of ISO 9000 standards in
> museums. There was only one answer on the list, from Gary Acord.
>
> In my museum, the National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm, Sweden,
> we are now doing a restructuring of a more than 100 year old
> organization. In the new organization the quality questions will be
> important. For the moment I am studying the ISO 9000 manual and I
> think that Gary Acord is right when he says that he is not sure
> whether ISO 9000 actually applies to museums since it is intended to
> be used as a measure of quality control in various industries. But I
> do think that it is necessary to work on internal quality standards.
> Probably you have to start with more limited processes such as
> registration, loans, documentation of the collection management.
>
> Jan af Burén
> Nationalmuseum, Stockholm
> [log in to unmask]


Dear Jan:

The only individual or firm I know doing work in the area of ISO 9000
standards in museums is Peter Westhuis - a Museum Security Consultant in
Rotterdam.  He can be reached at [log in to unmask]

Museum Services International is now working on introducing the field of
Value Engineering to the Cultural and Museum Communities.  Value
Engineering is a Management Methodology for assuring quality and cost
cutting on a project basis - particularly the planning and design of
renovations/new construction projects.  In fact Value Engineering is now
mandated by our Federal Government for use in all of its agencies.

We hope to have more news about Value Engineering in the future - and
perhaps an article concerning a Museum Value Engineering Project we are
working on at the present time.

Kind Regards

Roger Wulff
President