[BCMA] Exhibit Evaluations

Mon Jul 31 09:30:28 PDT 2017

Hello Tammy,

I just came across in my office a resource that might be useful to you. The book is written by Judy Diamond and is titled:

"Practical Evaluation Guide: Tools for Museums & Other Informal Education Settings"

It goes through several steps on how to set up an evaluation strategy for institutions such as museums and ways to carry out measuring the effectiveness of exhibits/educational programs through quantitative and qualitative analysis methods.

Granted I have not read the book (as I just saw it before writing this email), but it might be worth reading for your purposes.

https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Evaluation-Guide-Educational-Association/dp/0759113033

Regards,

Duncan

Duncan MacLeod

Curator
Vancouver Maritime Museum
1905 Ogden Avenue | Vancouver, BC V6J 1A3
604.257.8307
www.vanmaritime.com<https://vancouvermaritimemuseum.com>

The Lost Fleet<https://www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com/exhibit/lost-fleet-exhibition>

<https://www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com/exhibit/lost-fleet-exhibition>

<https://www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com/exhibit/lost-fleet-exhibition>

[1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg]<https://www.vancouvermaritimemuseum.com/exhibit/lost-fleet-exhibition>

________________________________
From: bcma-bounces at lists.vifa.ca <bcma-bounces at lists.vifa.ca> on behalf of Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv. <bcma at lists.vifa.ca>
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2017 10:03:59 AM
To: 'bcma at lists.vifa.ca'
Subject: Re: [BCMA] Exhibit Evaluations

This is a good question, Tammy.. I’ve found myself going pretty far afield to find some existing evaluation tools..

What I’ve found is that evaluation measures are designed to answer the specific question you need information about. A really good in-depth discussion of evaluation methods used and results obtained can be found here, even though it addresses culture more generally than museum specific:

http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/documents/publications/cultural-value-project-final-report/

Another resource is from the AAM, and there is even a report template provided:

http://aam-us.org/resources/assessment-programs/peer-review/map-reviewer-resources/community-engagement-assessment-resources

All in all, the base questions for any project are: What is the organizational mission? What is the message of the organization to the community, [or community to the community, depending on your focus]?
 If the exhibit meets the mission, then you can be pretty assured that it should remain. If not, then you can look at other options for that space.
If however, your mission is not resonating with the community, then that should be considered before determining whether the exhibits are effective for that mission.
Evaluation does not need to be expensive... recognizing that there seems to be a need is a major step in the direction of any future change.

Keep in mind that technology is a tool, not a solution... too many people are looking tech first rather than: does tech help move the message forward?

Hope this helps

Darryl MacKenzie, Curator
Delta Museum

From: bcma-bounces at lists.vifa.ca [mailto:bcma-bounces at lists.vifa.ca] On Behalf Of Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.
Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2017 2:08 PM
To: bcma at lists.vifa.ca
Subject: [BCMA] Exhibit Evaluations

Hi, everyone,

We are beginning an in-depth review of our exhibits, and working to get input from all of our stakeholders – visitors, members, volunteers, community partners, etc – as to the content, interactivity, frequency, accessibility of current and future exhibits. There are a whole lot of questions we’re trying to answer: everything from “Where do we need more seating?” to “Should we do more to incorporate technology into exhibits as an interpretive tool?” and even “Should we be doing exhibits at all, or are there other ways we can use our collections to tell the local story?”

Obviously, visitor surveys and stakeholder discussions are going to be a big part of answering these questions, but I am having trouble finding resources to help us implement them. I can find plenty that outlines why museums should do exhibit evaluations, but not so much on the how. Does anyone out there have some guidelines, tips, sample surveys, best-practices etc to share?

I am looking especially for things that can be done effectively by a very small organisation with a very limited budget. Any help is very much appreciated!

You can reach me off-list at 250-428-9262 or crestonmuseum at telus.net<mailto:crestonmuseum at telus.net>.

Thanks so much!

Tammy

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tammy Bradford, Manager
Creston & District Museum & Archives
219 Devon Street, Creston, BC V0B 1G3
Phone 250-428-9262
www.crestonmuseum.ca
Find us on Facebook!<https://www.facebook.com/CrestonMuseum>

________________________________

This message is provided in confidence and should not be forwarded to any external third party without authorization. If you have received this message in error, please notify the original sender immediately by telephone or by return email and delete this message along with any attachments.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.vifa.ca/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20170731/85c31b12/attachment-0001.htm 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg344d4b85-43c4-4c19-a192-799ce6de38ad.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 41876 bytes
Desc: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg344d4b85-43c4-4c19-a192-799ce6de38ad.jpg
Url : http://lists.vifa.ca/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20170731/85c31b12/attachment-0007.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg983633e9-260d-4e87-90e4-eba7a6d90321.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 41876 bytes
Desc: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg983633e9-260d-4e87-90e4-eba7a6d90321.jpg
Url : http://lists.vifa.ca/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20170731/85c31b12/attachment-0008.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg93e0e001-de61-40d7-9fe3-807d1475dc46.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 41876 bytes
Desc: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg93e0e001-de61-40d7-9fe3-807d1475dc46.jpg
Url : http://lists.vifa.ca/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20170731/85c31b12/attachment-0009.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg6f0dec5e-1fee-4afd-b58f-a2ae9ad4e77e.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 41876 bytes
Desc: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg6f0dec5e-1fee-4afd-b58f-a2ae9ad4e77e.jpg
Url : http://lists.vifa.ca/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20170731/85c31b12/attachment-0010.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg314c6ffa-3a3f-479f-b52c-db6f63c4273c.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 41876 bytes
Desc: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg314c6ffa-3a3f-479f-b52c-db6f63c4273c.jpg
Url : http://lists.vifa.ca/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20170731/85c31b12/attachment-0011.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg73ea3089-d74c-4901-b886-8da6acbcf775.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 41876 bytes
Desc: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpg73ea3089-d74c-4901-b886-8da6acbcf775.jpg
Url : http://lists.vifa.ca/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20170731/85c31b12/attachment-0012.jpg 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpgcdfe1bd3-6756-4988-b8c9-4392555f2223.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 41876 bytes
Desc: OutlookEmoji-1499805432751_TLF_email-signature_v1a.jpgcdfe1bd3-6756-4988-b8c9-4392555f2223.jpg
Url : http://lists.vifa.ca/pipermail/bcma/attachments/20170731/85c31b12/attachment-0013.jpg 