AAM Expands Research Program with New Director
U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall once complained, "Everybody artistic loathes statistics." We disagree: though many museum professionals are indeed artistic, the field has always welcomed hard data collected and disseminated by AAM. Now AAM is expanding its research program to provide even more information about the field to our members, the museum community, policymakers and the American public, with a new research director on board to lead this effort.
The main goals of the research program are to:
- Coordinate the data that AAM collects through its membership records, accreditation process, periodic surveys of museum finances and members and other ongoing efforts
- Disseminate significant research conducted by other organizations, including individual museums, academic and market researchers, government agencies and AAM's affiliates and Standing Professional Committees
- Identify the key strategic challenges facing museums and the vital information needed to address these challenges
- Develop and implement new research projects, including a planned membership survey, the first national museum workforce survey and a complete census of U.S. museums
- Provide analysis of the various data that AAM and others have collected or will collect about museums, with comparative perspectives whenever possible
In support of these efforts, AAM recently hired Philip M. Katz as assistant director for research to coordinate the expanded program. Phil is a historian by training, with degrees from Harvard and Princeton. During the past 12 years he directed a major study of professional training as research director for graduate education at the American Historical Association in Washington, D.C., among other undertakings.
Phil is eager to learn more about exciting research from the field, including best practices in museum data collection. To share your ideas for AAM's research program, contact pkatz@aam-us.org.
