Cultural organisations are under increasing pressure to supply robust evidence to demonstrate their contribution to the economy and public life, in order to ward off budget cuts and attract external funding.
Research commissioned by ALMA-UK aimed to provide museums, libraries and archives with user-friendly toolkits, to help them create transparent, locally-relevant impact reports capable of withstanding economists’ scrutiny. The toolkit was initially launched in 2011 and a revised edition was published in 2012, together with updated guidance documentation:
- ALMA Economic Impact Toolkit 2012 (xls)
- ALMA Economic Impact Toolkit 2012 Guide (pdf) or ALMA Economic Impact Toolkit 2012 Guide (doc)
- ALMA Economic Impact Toolkit Aggregation 2012 (xls)
- ALMA Economic Impact Toolkit 2012 Aggregation Guide (pdf) or ALMA Economic Impact Toolkit 2012 Aggregation Guide (doc)
- ALMA Economic Impact Toolkit 2011 (xls)
- guidance document 2011 (pdf).
Background to the project
Stage 1 of ALMA-UK’s Economic Impact research was commissioned in September 2010 from ERS Research and Consultancy.The results were published in March 2011 and are available to read here:
- ALMA-UK Economic Impacts Project Stage 1_FINAL REPORT
- ALMA-UK Economic Impacts Project Stage 1_FINAL REPORT Welsh Language version
The Stage 1 research had five core aims:
- to map and analyse all known economic impact studies relevant to the UK museums, libraries and archives sector
- to consult with sector stakeholders to determine the kind of economic impact data already being collected and the primary barriers to effective data collection
- to investigate other comparable toolkits and models of best practice
- to recommend the best methodologies and toolkit approaches for use by museum, library and archive organisations, both large and small and across all four UK nations
- to consider the processes and indicative costs for developing and piloting the toolkits
Over sixty economic impact studies from the UK and the States were examined as part of the research, providing a solid evidence base from which to select those methodologies best suited to museums, libraries and archives’ diverse service offer.
The Stage 1 research was developed collaboratively by all ALMA-UK members and jointly funded by Museums Galleries Scotland; the Scottish Library and Information Council; the Scottish Council on Archives; CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales; the Northern Ireland Museums Council and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
On the basis of the Stage 1 findings, ALMA-UK members have combined resources again to commission ERS to develop and pilot two toolkits, one tailored to meet the needs of museums and archives, and another to meet the needs of libraries.
For more information contact:
- Alison Turnbull, Museums Galleries Scotland: museums and archives toolkit
- Rhona Arthur, Scottish Library and Information Council: libraries toolkit
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