The MSU Museum has been selected to participate in the Museum Assessment Program (MAP), which is administered by the American Alliance of Museums. Through guided self-study assessment and on-site consultation with a museum professional, participation in MAP will empower the MSU Museum to better serve Michigan State University faculty, students, guest researchers, and the East Lansing community by facilitating its meeting and exceeding the highest professional standards of the museum field.
The Museum’s participation is made possible through funding provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services
(IMLS). MAP helps museums strengthen operations, plan for the future, and meet standards through self-study assessment and a consultative site visit from an expert peer reviewer.
The MSU Museum has embarked on a MAP Collections Stewardship assessment that will activate and steward the MSU Museum collections to increase the Museum’s impact at the university and beyond. The Museum aims to create new collections strategies for digitization and long-term collections care, and to develop a revised acquisition and deaccession policy. The assessment work includes initiating the planning process for a unified and dynamic Collections Center that will bring together the Museum’s collections from separate buildings, provide access for our audiences, and ensure excellent stewardship of the collections.
“Of the nation’s estimated 33,000 museums, the MSU Museum ranks among more than 1,080 to receive accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums. As such, the Museum takes great care to ensure our collections policies and procedures remain timely and relevant, in accordance with industry best-practices, and aligned with the Museum’s and the university’s strategic plans,” stated Devon Akmon, MSU Museum director. “We’re grateful for the support from AAM and IMLS to conduct this important self-study to help guide our work.”
“Choosing to be part of the MAP program is indicative of the commitment to civic involvement, public service and overall excellence on the part of the MSU Museum,” said Laura Lott, president of AAM. “Studies have shown America’s museums to be among the country’s most trusted and valued institutions. MAP is designed to make them even better.”
Since its creation in 1981, the MAP program has served over 5,000 museums. MAP is supported through a cooperative agreement between AAM and IMLS. For more information, including a complete list of museums participating in MAP, please visit www.aam-us.org/map, call 202-289-9118 or e-mail map@aam-us.org. The AAM website also has information about museums across the country who have previously participated in MAP and other AAM Excellence Programs (such as Core Document Verification and Accreditation).
AAM is the only organization representing the nation’s entire museum community and has been dedicated to promoting excellence within the museum field for over 100 years. For more information about AAM, visit www.aam-us.org. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. To learn more about the Institute, please visit: http://www.imls.gov.