Standards for Saskatchewan Museums

Museums exist as expressions of public trust.

Standards acknowledge the public accountability of museums and their responsibility to make collections available and meaningful to that public and to do so in an honest, unbiased manner. Standards contribute to fulfilling the obligations of public trust by creating reference points for standard practice which museums can work towards in their planning.

The Museums Association of Saskatchewan defines standards as models of achievable excellence, covering all aspects of museum operations and relevant to the diverse institutions in the provincial museum community. Additionally, MAS describes standards as a consistent set of operational goals, and a comprehensive set of operational guidelines.

Standards For Saskatchewan Museums was developed by the Museums Association of Saskatchewan for the Saskatchewan museum community in all its diversity.

The Museums Association of Saskatchewan undertook the initial development of standards in 1987 in response to a directive from its membership. The original document was ratified in principle by the Museums Association of Saskatchewan's membership at its Annual General Meeting on May 6, 1988. In 1991 a second edition was produced as a result of the review process in place at the time.

Standards for Saskatchewan Museums - 2002 are guided by the following principles:

Standards represent sound and accepted museum practice and ethics – they provide goals for achievable operational excellence in the ‘core’ areas. Standards recognize the museum as a living, growing organization – standards provide a path for improving or developing organizational performance along which the museum may logically progress at its own rate. Standards recognize the museum’s need for self-determination – each museum decides what is relevant to its aspirations. Standards rely on voluntary implementation – standards are not rules or regulations. Standards are not resource dependant. Standards represent reasonable expectations within the museum field and the Saskatchewan museum community – they are not isolated from the realities of museum work. Standards are helpful, useful and practical guidelines. Standards assist the museum to undertake self –evaluation – they provide a built-in review process. Standards recognize the diversity of the museum community. In articulating a comprehensive set of operational standards based on these principles the presumption is not that all standards are relevant to every institution. Rather, the assumption is that museums will find relevant, useful, practical information within this document which will help them to be the best they can be, given their resources and goals. Although Standards for Saskatchewan Museums has been written specifically for the Saskatchewan museum community, the standards do not differ substantially in content or priority from what is considered to be good museum practice in Canada and elsewhere in the world. Email MAS - General Contact