NLA at work
Meeting visitor needs
The movement into the new millenium has sparked an increasingly complex global environment. In order to meet this challenge, to stimulate learning and to continue to achieve our goals, cultural institutions such as libraries, galleries and museums, need to develop a comprehensive understanding of their visitors requirements. The National Library has taken a step in this direction by appointing an evaluation manager in the Public Programs Division, Kylie McKinley, to undertake research and to monitor the attitudes and expectations of current visitors.
The initial emphasis is to establish benchmarks and comparative measures based on current visitor requirements. This will later extend to an analysis of people who do not visit the National Library, in order to encourage future visits and to stimulate and educate them about its facilities. Recent and current evaluation programs include research into the Birds! exhibition, a range of online exhibitions, the Visitor Centre, merchandising opportunities, school group satisfaction, quality of events and Web site analysis. The evaluation processes utilised are both quantitative and qualitative and include front end, which occurs in the development stages of a public program; remedial, which occurs during a public program; and summative which measures the overall success of a public program upon completion. Results are fed back into improving visitor access and the quality of visitors experience of the Library.
The National Library is one of two major libraries and five cultural institutions to have undertaken such an extensive evaluation program through its Educational Services Program.
Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: lkirwan@nla.gov.au