Last week, OMA staff members Brenda Granger and Stacy O'Daniel, attended the 102nd American Association of Museums annual meeting in Denver. There were many Oklahoma museums represented, but for those who were unable to attend, OMA would like to pass on a few ideas and national trends learned at the meeting to OMA members and donors.

• The Virginia Association of Museums has produced a CD titled Serving the Community:  Training Museum Educators to Meet Teacher Needs. The CD will be available in the OMA Lending Library in June.
   
• In general, the national trend is to eliminate standing committees on the Board of Directors, and instead appoint Ad Hoc committees as needed. These committees work on a specific task and timeline. This approach allows for board meetings to be more about institutional vision and strategic direction.
   
• Discussion continues on the IMLS 2009 reauthorization and the Federal Formula Grants for Museums, which OMA is involved. Currently, there are over 47 organizations on the Federal Formula Grants Coalition working to encourage Congress to include federal formula grants for museums, similar to the state library grant program. OMA continues to provide updates on the website.
   
• An overall arching theme of the conference was GREEN. Greening the actual conference, greening museums and greening everyday attitudes. OMA encourages you to think of ways your museums can start going green. A few examples include not printing out emails, offering newsletters online only, using recycled paper for printing and serving organic food in your museum restaurant.
   
• The American Association of Museums is ramping up their advocacy efforts. Gail Ravnitzky Silberglied was recently named AAM's Director of Government Relations. She is currently putting together the legislative agenda for the upcoming year, and is asking for input from the museum community. AAM continues to encourage museums to visit http://www.speakupformuseums.org/ for advocacy issues.
   
• Museum ethics is a continuing topic of interest. Many museums are implementing policies on conflict of interest, whistleblower protection and document destruction.  Greater transparency and disclosure continues to be encouraged.
   
• Deaccessioning by private college museums, as well as non-profit museums, with the intent to increase operating funds continues to be a sore point of contention in the museum field. Having and following written policies along with transparency follows the latest "best practice" standards for museums.
   
• A study on Museum Public Finance conducted by the Urban Institute for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) will be available this summer. The study will describe the landscape of public support for museum from the federal, state and local levels. One preliminary realization is that the most important purpose for public finance is general operating support.
   
• Information from a recently released IMLS national study on the use of libraries, museums and the Internet showed that all three compliment each other in supporting a wide variety of information needs. For the full report, visit http://www.interconnectionsreport.org/. 
   
• A great marketing tip to remember: Manage audience expectation. Example: If the museum will host an exhibition of works from the Louvre the audience expectation will to see the Mona Lisa. If the Mona Lisa is part of the exhibition, let everyone know; if not, manage the audience expectation so visitors are not disappointed.
   
• Revenue generation remains a constant source of interest in the museum profession. In addition to engaging in social media (sites like Facebook and Network for Good) and enabling online retail and giving, it was noted that there is a slight trend in museums utilizing ventures that create unrelated business income to fund operations or endowments.
   
• Partnerships often generate much discussion. In wondering what a city of municipality can do to strengthen families and improve school readiness of children, the city of Denver has partnered with local cultural institutions and Head Start to create the 5 by 5 Project. The project is in its third year and has been very successful. As a result, the 5 by 5 Project has printed a guide on how to launch a similar program in any community. This guide, Improving School Readiness and Strengthening Families: The 5 by 5 Project, will be available in the OMA Lending Library in June.
   
• AAM will be concentrating on the value of museums and creating a continuum of excellence, which made accreditation a hot topic.  As of January 2008, there were 774 accredited museums.  (Oklahoma has 11 accredited museums.)  A few changes to the accreditation process that are being considered by AAM include creating a streamlined reaccreditation process and re-examining and reinventing accreditation for the 21st century.  The OMA Lending Library will have available in June, A Higher Standard:  Museum Accreditation Program Standards and Small Museums & Accreditation:  Profiles of Small Accredited Museums (CD).

The 2009 AAM annual meeting will be in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 30-May 4, 2009.

A special thank you to the Museum of the Red River for co-hosting the members and friends reception and Allied Arts for Tier III funds to assist with registration.

For more information on OMA, visit http://www.okmuseums.org/. For additional information about AAM, visit http://www.aam-us.org/.
 

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