Description
Book SynopsisBased on extensive research and decades of experience, museum analyst and planner John W. Jacobsen provides both the theoretical underpinnings and the operational pragmatics of measuring any museum''s intentional impact and performance by using 1,025 indicators drawn from 51 expert sources. Measuring Museum Impact and Performance: Theory and Practice provides museum professionals internationally with a clear, very open process that will improve their museum''s value and performance by selecting indicators that monitor whether they are realizing their desired public, private, personal and institutional values. The book is not prescriptive, but liberating, as the framework recognizes that each museum needs to decide on its own purposes and priorities. The book is organized in two parts: Part 1: Theory is scholarly and builds on the museum field's rich literature; and Part 2: Practice provides step-by-step methods for any museum to set up its own dashboard of prioritized impact and perfor
Trade ReviewVeteran museum planner John Jacobsen has prepared a meticulous analysis of how museums organize, manage, and document their operations. . . .The book is a treasure house of information and strategies for understanding the nuances of what museums are, want to be, and sometimes wind up being. . . . The book finishes with a very useful presentation of the diverse and complex world of museums, a helpful listing of the sources of the 1,025 indicators, and then numerous pages of key performance formulas and worksheets that enable museums to organize, interpret, and compare their activities. . . .[I]t is an extremely useful volume that fully acknowledges both the diversity within the museum world and the need for institutions to fully locate themselves and present to their particular locale their social, economic and intellectual roles and successes. * Informal Learning Review *
“This book is a toolkit that can help museums move from the subjective to the objective in communicating the value that they bring to communities. … By helping museums measure the value of the work that they do, this groundbreaking book will enable them to effectively communicate their impact to key stakeholders, allowing museums to have the support that they need to serve their communities in new and creative ways, for the benefit of all.” -- Ford W. Bell, American Alliance of Museums (AAM) President, 2007-2015
Table of ContentsForeword by Ford W. Bell, DVM, President & CEO (retired) American Alliance of Museums Acknowledgements Introduction Part 1: Theory: How and why do museums do what they do? Chapter 1: Finding the Museum Theory of Action Chapter 2: Identifying Potential Museum Impacts Chapter 3: Measuring Impact Part 2: Practice: How do you measure your museum’s impact and performance? Chapter 4: Shift from Theory to Practice Chapter 5: Prioritize your Museum’s Purposes and Impacts Chapter 6: Determine your Museum’s Performance Metrics Chapter 7: Compare your Museum to your Peers Summary Chapter 8: Report Changes in Your Impact and Performance Chapter 9: Summary and Future Potentials Appendixes Appendix A: Definitions and Assumptions Appendix B: Source Documents for MIIP 1.0 Appendix C: Potential Museum Impacts: Selected Examples Appendix D: Measurement Formulas and Worksheet Templates Appendix E: Worksheets: Blanks and Versions by the Sample Museum Index About the Author
