Demonstrating museum value: the role of the Institute of Museum and Library Services

Abstract

In this article, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), an independent federal agency in the United States, is used as an example to explore evolving definitions of public value regarding the museum sector. Also, the agency's history and support for projects that contribute to understanding the value and effectiveness of museums are reviewed in the broader context of related developments in US nonprofits and museums. Finally, five broad areas needing continued attention are suggested in connection with relevant IMLS-supported projects.

Keywords:

• US museums
• museum management
• nonprofit accountability
• museum performance measurement
• museum public funding
• museum public value
• federal support for museums

Notes

1. Among many resources that explore the history of museums in this regard are Riches, rivals, and radicals: 100 years of museums in America by Schwarzer (2007) and Reinventing the museum: Historical and contemporary perspectives on the paradigm shift by Gail Anderson (2003).

2. The NSF has moved museums toward more effective evaluation, evidence-gathering, dissemination of research and promising practices, and demonstrations of public value in the area of informal science education. The Informal Education and Outreach Framework, released in 2008, identifies such impact categories as awareness, engagement, behavior, attitude, and skills. CAISE, the Center for Advanced Informal Science Education, administered by the Association of Science-Technology Centers, is a multi-institutional collaboration designed to collect and share evidence of project outcomes and best practice. In 1997, the NSF and IMS were lead funders (with the NEA and the NEH) of the Museum Learning Collaborative (MLC), a research project at the University of Pittsburgh that studied the meaning of learning in museums and the ways in which it occurs. The MLC produced a study, Learning Conversations in Museums, edited by Gaea Leinhardt, Kevin Crowley, and Karen Knutson (Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2002), that led to other efforts at the University of Pittsburgh. The 2009 NSF-funded National Research Council consensus study, Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits, examined ‘the potential of nonschool settings for science learning’. Learners in these environments ‘experience excitement, interest, and motivation to learn’ and identify themselves as ‘science learners’. The IMLS is contributing, with the NSF and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, to a companion practitioner's guide to be published in late 2009.

3. The NEA has also supported systematic outcomes evaluation (http://www.nea.gov/Grants/apply/out/index-out.html). In addition, the Arts Education Partnership, founded in 1995 as a collaboration between the NEA, the US Department of Education, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies, sponsors research on the impact of arts in the schools.

4. Museum Services Act of 1976, Title II of the Arts, Humanities and Cultural Affairs Act of 1976 (P.L. 94-462).

5. Museum and Library Services Act (20 U.S.C. 9171).

6. Museum and Library Services Act (20 U.S.C. 9108).

7. Moore, M. H. 1995. Creating public value: Strategic management in government. Boston: Harvard University Press.

8. For more information on this initiative, see The Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2003/2007), Learning for the 21st century. A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. US Department of Commerce, US Department of Education, US Department of Labor, National Institute of Literacy, Small Business Administration; 21st century skills for 21st century jobs, 1999; The White House: Remarks by President Barack on Education, 10 March 2009.

9. The IMLS supported Indiana University in the development of Shaping outcomes: Making a difference in libraries and museums. (http://www.shapingoutcomes.org).