[NHCOLL-L:829] IMLS funding deadline for new, improved MAP Assessments

[Elizabeth E. Merritt]

MAP Helps Museums with a New, Improved Process of Self-Study
In 1999 professionals from throughout the museum field helped AAM redesign
the Museum Assessment Program (MAP) self-study process. The result is the
new MAP Assessment Self-Study Workbooks first used by museums entering the
program in the spring of 2000.  

"The Workbook is excellent: it is helping to reveal many of our most
difficult challenges."
- Scot Medbury, Director, Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens & San
Francisco Conservatory of Flowers

 "...this was a very useful exercise. One of our Board members stated: 'the
Self-Study Workbook and self-study process has forced us to take a long,
hard look at ourselves-what we are, what we would like to be, and what we
need to get there.'"
- Assessment Team, Captain Salem Avery House Museum and Shady Side Rural
Heritage Society, Shady Side, Md.

"The assessment was a great tool to help us fine tune and better understand
our processes...[it] certainly raised awareness of our mission,
opportunities, and challenges among staff. It also strengthened staff focus
and interest."
- Assessment Team, Eiteljorg Museum of Native American and Western Art,
Indianapolis

The new Workbooks include:

· Activities for each assessment. Pioneered with Public Dimension
Assessment in 1991, Activities are interactive exercises that help you
gather information on how you operate, provide opportunities to try new
methods of working, and produce tools to help you implement policies and
procedures. 
· Checklists that enable you to compare your museum's operations to the
strategies used by other museums in solving common museum challenges.  
· More rigorous and comprehensive questions, reflecting the desire
expressed by the field for a self-study tool that challenges them to
explore all facets of their operations.

Extracts from the new Workbooks (Table of Contents, Overview, sample
questions, Activity summary, and sample Activity) are available in PDF
format on the AAM Web site: www.aam-us.org/map.htm.

The next deadline for IMLS funding of MAP is March 15, 2001. Applications
are available at the MAP Web site (www.aam-us.org/map.htm) or may be
obtained by e-mailing MAP staff at: map at aam-us.org.

Museum Assessment Program
American Association of Museums
1575 Eye Street NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20005
Telephone: 202-289-9118
Fax: 202-289-6578
TDD: 202-289-8439
e-mail: map at aaam-us.org
Web site: www.aam-us.org/map.htm