What Next?
Maintaining Accreditation and Being Ready for the Next Review
Accreditation is not just something your museum achieves—it becomes the way the museum does its work. Accredited museums engage in a continual process of self-improvement between reviews. They stay current with evolving standards and best practices and incorporate them into the work of the museum. Here are some ways to stay engaged and be ready for your next review:
Stay Plugged In
Keep Those Policies Up-to-Date
Reviewing museum policies and procedures on a regular schedule is simply good business practice. By doing so, a museum ensures that when it approaches its next accreditation review its house is in order and it is ready to compile a new set of supporting materials.
Read Your Mail
Accreditation staff provide accredited museums with regular updates on the program and its requirements via an annual letter, the AAM website, notices in Aviso, articles in Museum News, and sessions at national and regional conferences.
Do MAP
Many museums use the Museum Assessment Program (MAP) to evaluate their operations in the years between accreditation reviews. MAP is a consultative program based on the same standards and best practices as Accreditation. It uses a similar method of self-study and peer review, which culminates in a report by peer reviewers (called Surveyors) that gives advice and recommendations to the museum.
Talk to Us
While the program stays in touch with you via an annual update letter, we do not pro-actively examine the operations of the museum during the time between reviews. Accredited museums are expected to provide the program staff with up-to-date contact information, particularly notifications regarding director transitions. As an accredited museum, it is also your responsibility to notify program staff about major changes in operations, such as:
- transformation of governance structure (e.g., change from government to private, nonprofit governance or vice versa, mergers, change in parent organization)
- significant changes in mission
- alterations that mean the museum no longer meets the eligibility criteria for accreditation
Program staff will counsel you on how such changes might affect the museum’s accreditation or the timing of its next accreditation review.
More Suggestions for Maintaining Accreditation
