ABSTRACT

The author looks at the role of measurement in public discourse about the work of museums, which underpins judgments about public value. She examines the kind of policy expectations that are being described by government, and how policy is translated into measures and how measures are used. Questions about the audience for measurement data are discussed, including the public's need to understand what museums do for them and the need for accountability of public funding to museums. It will open with a discussion of the common uses of museum statistical data with examples from public discourse about the value of museums. The core cultural work of museums is defined as the 'preservation of culture through the collection and management of objects and ideas that represent ways of life of particular groups of people', using culture in the anthropological sense. Museums make cultural information or knowledge accessible to people through a range of museum services.