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- NCSML Institutional Assessment Report
What we did: In 2003 the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library applied for and received a grant funded by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services to undertake an Institutional Assessment to review the museum’s entire management and operations. The program is designed to help museums assess their strengths and weaknesses in preparation for strategic planning.
The MAP grant includes:
- the completion of a self-study questionnaire (January 2004),
- an on-site visit by a museum professional – Bernard Fishman, Exec. Director of the Rhode Island Historical Society (November 2004), and
- an Institutional Assessment Report which includes evaluation of the current state of operations and recommendations for improvement.
The NCSML Institutional Assessment Report was received in March 2005. It concluded:
"The National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library is close to being a model for what a relatively new and modestly-sized institution can achieve in both striving to meet professional standards and serving its community. As I have said elsewhere, the quality and commitment of its staff is exemplary and its programs and exhibits very impressive in both quality and frequency. There is excellent knowledge of professional practices and such deficiencies as do exist are recognized and understood. The museum’s board of trustees and its current and past directors deserve to be commended for the outstanding institution they have created and developed."
Other comments:
On Staff and Volunteers – "The extraordinary level of commitment and devotion among staff and volunteers is palpable to the visitor and accounts for the museum’s superlatively high level of activity…."
On Exhibits – "The museum’s exhibits show a high degree of planning and professionalism and relate directly to its mission. The core exhibit, a 4,000 sq. ft. show called Homelands: The Story of the Czech & Slovak People, is informative and beautifully designed, and is particularly ingenious when using design elements and image reproduction when carrying the story line through themes or periods for which available objects are few."
On Programming – "The NCSML has an outstanding schedule of programs, one that is extremely impressive in numbers of activities as well as breadth of subject matter. Some 130 different activities were held in the last year, including lectures, conferences, symposia, concerts, folk art classes, films, a dance festival, school tours, and other events. All seem to be related to the museum’s mission."
On Community Relations – "The NCSML does a truly outstanding job of energizing and connecting with its community, whose enthusiasm and support is the foundation of the museum’s success. In addition to offering a very extensive menu of educational programs, the museum can count on nearly 200 volunteers who gave over 12,000 hours of assistance in 2002 and provide an enormous range of services and support."
Recommendations for the future – "Its immediate and future challenges lie mainly in further refining its mission, consciously prioritizing and focusing resources among the many things it now does, and building a strategic plan and an operational structure to align its abilities and resources more closely with its chosen priorities. It can perhaps be said that the museum’s pioneering phase has come to a triumphant conclusion, but that the freewheeling exuberance of that earlier stage must now be somewhat tamed and strongly redirected into a more limited number of channels for an equal level of success to attend the more mature phase of development that now looms."