Survey on collections assessment tools

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

    <URL:http://www.surveymonkey.com/
        s.aspx?sm=AexkGlto8a31TFtMrUaxjA_3d_3d>

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

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.

Bill Tompkins
National Collections Coordinator
National Collections Program
Smithsonian Institution


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:19
                  Distributed: Monday, October 6, 2008
                       Message Id: cdl-22-19-008
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