From the bookshelf ‘Dinosaurs and paintings’ Toniislav JoIa

In this revieu! Tomislav Jola- a niembei’of A!fuseum k editorial Aduisoiy Boad, c o ? ~ mentsorzThe Cost of Collecting: Collection Management in UK Museums, hy Bary Lod, Gail Dater andJobla Nicks. LoFzdoiz, HMSO, 1989, 157pp. Price 510.50.

The Cost of Collecting: Collectioiz Matiage- ment iîaMiiseunais a daring attempt by the Office of Arts and Libraries in the United Kingdom to scan the financial side of the museum profession and to extract from this research some useful knowledge for museum management. This worthy project finds its impetus in (a) the frightening explosion of museums today, an explo- sion, one could say, out of control of the museum profession itself, and (b) the de- sire of those involved in museum funding (namely, taxpayers) to know how much they are paying for this explosion.

Apart from financial considerations, the book discusses many other museum fa- cets. Exhibits informing us of the speed of air in our throats when sneezing, the average diameter of our blood vessels and their cumulative length compared with that of the equator are discussed. W e find figures such as the number of paintings produced annually throughout the world included in this work as well.

The book contains interesting data, though I believe its chief utility may be focused on the managerial sector of our profession. I appreciate discovering the fact that, con- cerning operating costs, the median budgetary provision of British museums is close to Si0 million, while for local and independent museums, it is S500,OOO and Sl65,000, respectively. I doubt, how- ever, that knowing the median financial commitment to operating costs for all museums (6475,000) helps us in any sig- nificant way.

Let us, therefore, look at how medians break down into their component ele- ments. The expenses of environmental control-systems installation vary from A70 to L122.73 per mz. Frankly, it interests me to know that only 2.5 per cent of the total annual museum expenditure is spent on

Museum (UNESCO, Paris), No. 176 (Vol. XLIV, No. 4, 1992)

collection purchases. However, again, vari- ation exists, blurring this statistic; inde- pendent museums, for example, devote only 1.5 per cent of their budget to collec- tion purchases while national museums invest 5.5 per cent.

The authors estimate the expenses of cata- loguing at approximately 610 per object; but other estimates cited suggest numbers as low as 62 to &3. Building costs, it is found, are very dependent upon the type of project at hand: they range from 6543 per m‘ for simple renovation to L2.365 per m? for the construction of a new art mu- seum.

Whether the discussion be, however, about the average operating costs for collections of 6120 per mL or the fact that the cost per museum visitor is estimated at L2.82, it is wise to remember that these numbers may serve as something more than reference points. The outlay per visitor, for instance, could be employed as the basis for a populist argument to bring museum costs down. In any case, this book lavishly supplies us with statistics; it is up to us to decide how to use them, if we decide, in fact, to use them at all.

I understand that quantitative methods and results can be appropriate for our profes- sion. On the other hand, we cannot submit ourselves to quantification at the expense of creativity. And there lies the curse as well as the blessing of the museum profes- sion: its variety. The only thing that a dinosaur and a painting have in common is the fact that they can both be placed in a museum. Yet, the authors of this book demonstrate their awareness of this issue by quoting our British colleague, Dr Rachel Mains, when she states that many of the costs relevant to museums ‘resist quantifi- cation’ in monetary terms. And let us not forget the least quantifiable element of the

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museum process: its human involvement and social contribution!

As with any statistical survey, analytical strength is positively correlated with the augmentation of the study’s reference area. This study concentrates on the situation of the United Kingdom’s museum world, thus it will be of some, albeit limited, use to others, Europeans or non-Europeans. The Office of Arts and Libraries’ questionnaire was sent to a selected sample of 100 institutions. Of these, sixty-one responded. (This professional quality of not respond- ing to questionnaires is one w e all seem to share -regardless of continent or country!) From these sixty-one respondents, the authors chose to visit twenty. One would imagine that they must have resisted the urge to chose twenty among those who didn’t reply, but, alas, these ‘silent thirty- nine’ remain the dark side of the project.

I strongly believe in a multidisciplinary approach. That being the case with this book means that many areas df museum activities are considered. Explicitly or read- ing between the lines, w e find a lot of useful information and, even better, some additional arguments which support the case of museums as active agents of edu- cation.

W e certainly knew before reading this book that the collections of established

museums grow more slowly than those of new ones and that the ‘majority of acquisi- tion funds are allocated to a relatively small proportion of museums’. W e also knew that ‘many museums’ have no storage inventories, and that ‘most of the mus- eums’ have ‘substantial’ backlogs in con- servation. But it is good to learn, for exam- ple, that one-third of storage systems could be improved by better housekeeping.

Not surprising is the conclusion that boards and councils ‘do not place high priority on storage’. But at the same time it is encour- aging to see that some theoretical projec- tions, such as remote stores and central- ized storage or documentation have some sound financial supporting arguments and that those 19,000 people working inBritish museums are not only spending money but are also making clear contributions to the development of these museums.

In their conclusion, the authors claim that this study should be followed by one focusing on the intellectual, social and economic benefits of museum collections. But these factors, I would say, are hardly within reach oFany statistical strategy. ‘You cannot measure the purpose of a museum’, says Peter Ames from Boston. Perhaps the way to a fuller understanding of museology slips through the deadly gorges of a statis- tical/scientific methodology. m

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