The Smithsonian Institution is currently planning to develop a
collections assessment tool - a "collections scorecard" per se - to
measure and report performance in the area of collections stewardship,
inform our strategic planning, and to leverage support for collections.
Our challenge is to develop performance metrics based on levels of best
practice that are relevant and meaningful across museums and collecting
units of different disciplines, scales, and organizational structures.

 

As part of a larger environmental scan, we are conducting a survey in
order to identify and document the variety of collections assessment and
survey tools used by museums, archives, and libraries world-wide to
measure collections stewardship.  Through this survey, we also wish to
solicit input regarding professional interest in developing and
implementing collections assessment tools which might be applicable and
beneficial to the entire field.

 

We invite and encourage you to participate in this survey which is now
available at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=AexkGlto8a31TFtMrUaxjA_3d_3d

 

For the purpose of this survey, we refer to a collections assessment as
a tool to evaluate policies, practices, and conditions based on
established professional standards and best practices.

 

A report of the findings of the survey will be available by the end of
the year.

 

The survey should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete.

 

*** Due Date: Responses to the survey are due by October 6, 2008 ***

 

We thank you in advance for your participation.

 

Sincerely,

 

Bill Tompkins

National Collections Coordinator

National Collections Program

Smithsonian Institution

 


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