1 Definition

The working group definition (a) is the rule. If not available apply national criteria (b) and define, explain the latter one.

1a Working group definition (a)
A museum, according to the definition given by the International Council of Museums (ICOM), is a noncommercial, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of man and his environment. In addition to museums designated as such, the following, recognised by ICOM as having the character of museums, are also covered by the surveys:

a) Conservation institutes and exhibition galleries on libraries and archives centres;

b) Natural, archaeological and ethnographic monuments and sites and historical monuments and sites of a museum nature, owing to their acquisition, conservation and communication activities.

The definition should be look upon in a broad sense. The sites are taken in account and not the administrative units.

1b National criteria (b)
Please explain, define here aside the way the museum sector is organised (or not organised) in your country.

2 Number of museums according to type of collection

2a Total number of museums

2b Art, archaeology and history museums include
1) Art museums: museums for the display of works of fine art and applied art. Within this group fall museums of sculpture, picture galleries, museums of photography and cinema, museums of architecture, including art exhibition galleries permanently maintained by libraries and archives centres (point 2a
UNESCO classification); and 2) Archaeology and history museums: the aim of
history museums is to present the historical evolution of a region, a country, or a province, over a limited period or over the centuries. Museums of archaeology are distinguished mainly by the fact that they owe all or a part of their collections to excavations. The group includes museums with collections of historical objects or remains, commemorative museums, archives museums, military museums, museums on historical figures, archaeological museums, antiques museums, etc. (point 2b UNESCO classification).

2c Science and technology museums, ethnology museums include
1) Natural history and natural science museums: museums dealing with subjects relating to one or several disciplines such as biology, geology, botany, zoology, palaeontology and ecology (point 2c UNESCO classification);
2) Science and technology museums: museums in this category are devoted to one or several exact sciences or technologies such as astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry, medical science, construction and building industries, manufactured objects, etc; also included in this category are planetaria and
science centres (point 2d UNESCO classification); and
3) Ethnography and anthropology museums: museums displaying materials on culture, social structure, beliefs, customs, traditional arts, etc. (point 2e UNESCO classification).

2d Other museums include
1) Specialized museums: museums concerned with research and the display of all aspects of a single theme or subject not covered in one of the previous categories (point 2f UNESCO classification);
2) Regional museums: museums which illustrate a more or less extensive region constituting a historical and cultural entity and sometimes also an ethnic, economic or social one, i.e. whose collections refer more to a specific
territory than to a specific theme or subject (point 2g UNESCO classification);
3) General museums: museums which have mixed collections and cannot be identified by a predominant field (point 2h UNESCO
classification); and
4) Other museums: museums not entering into any of the above categories

3 Ownership

3a Number of state owned museums
museums which are owned by central or federal government authorities.
[In order to conceive the problems in this context with federal states it has been suggested that the co-ordinators should explore the work done by Eurostat concerning the territorial nomenclature.]

3b Number of local regional owned museums
museums which are owned by local or regional authorities (federated state, province, county, city, town,etc). [In order to conceive the problems in this context with federal states it has been suggested that the co-ordinators should explore the work done by Eurostat concerning the territorial nomenclature.]

3c Number of other public-owned museums
museums which are owned by other public authorities not classified under 4a, 4b or 4c.

3d Number of private-owned museums
museums owned by private entities (foundations or associations registered under private law) or families and individuals include also public/private partnership (ppp) and this item should be explained if possible.

3e Of wich number of "ppp'"s (public/private partnership) museums
["In this type of associations / companies the government has nominally and legally there yet the superintendence however the company manages itself more like a private company than the government could."]
public/private partnership should be explained if possible: agreements / contracts between

 

4 Management

4a Number of state managed museums: museums which are managed by central or federal government authorities.

4b Number of local regional managed museums: museums which are managed by local or regional authorities (federated state, province, county, city, town,etc).

4c Number of other public-managed museums: museums which are managed by other public authorities not classified under 4a, 4b or 4c.

4d Number of private-managed museums: museums managed by private entities foundations or associations registered under private law) or families and individuals include also public/private partnership (ppp) and this item should be explained if possible.

4e Of which number of "ppp'"s (public/private partnership) museums

["In this type of associations / companies the government has nominally and legally there yet the superintendence however the company manages itself more like a private company than the government could."]

public/private partnership should be explained if possible: agreements / contracts between public and private institutions to run a museum.

5 Ownership of permanent collection

5 Ownership of permanent collection Collections owned by the museum itself or in permanent loan by the museum

5a Public ≤ 50 %

5b Public > 50 %

6 Number of visits

6 Number of visits

6a Total number of visits

6b Of which total free admissions (number)

6c Of which total free admissions (%)

6d Of which total foreigners (number)
Foreigners means non-residents; coming from abroad (source: visitor survey). This data is an estimation.

6e Of which total foreigners (%)
Foreigners means non-residents; coming from abroad (source: visitor survey). This data is an estimation.

6f Of which total visits at temporary exhibitions (number)
Temporary exhibitions produced uninterruptedly not more than 1 year.

6g Of which total visits at temporary exhibitions (%) Temporary exhibitions produced

7 Staff

FTE a year: FTE (full-time equivalent) means converting part-time staff in full-time staff. E.g.: if three people are working in the museum on part-time contract basis, two on quarter time basis and the third on half-time basis, the FTE data will be

25%+25%+50% = 1 full-time employee.

On national criteria, please specify normal working hours a week.

Paid staff: All personal necessary to run the museum (directors, researchers, curators, exhibition designers, etc as well as administrative staff, security staff, technical staff, waiters, etc.)

Volunteers: personal not being part of the “regular”museum staff and not touching any wage

7a Paid staff: Total number

7b Paid staff: of which specialised
Specialised staff: personal who has graduated the faculty of universitary level as well as personal with secondary education having graduate in a special training course in the museum sector.

7c Paid staff in FTE (see point n°7 above for explanations):Total number

7d Paid staff in FTE (see point n°7 for explanations): of which number of specialised staffSpecialised staff: personal who has graduated the faculty of universitary level as well as personal with secondary education having graduated in a special training course in the museum sector.

7e Volunteers: Total number

7f Volunteers: of which specialised
Specialised staff: personal who has graduated the faculty of universitary level as well as personal with secondary education having graduated in a special training course inthe museum sector.

7g Volunteers in FTE (see point n°7 for explanations): Total number

7h Volunteers in FTE (see point n°7 for explanations): of which number of specialised staff
Specialised staff: personal who has graduated the faculty of universitary level as well as personal with secondary education having graduated in a special training course in the museum sector

8 Admissions

Paid admissions: Basic maximum price for one adult person.

Free entrance: For all categories of public

[Note that many museums which admissions are free do organise special exhibitions for which entry fees are asked.]

8a Total number of museums with paid admissions with a price of tickets (in EUR) < 2,5 €

8b Total number of museums with paid admissions with a price of tickets (in EUR) between 2,5 and 5 €

8c Total number of museums with paid admissions with a price of tickets (in EUR) > 5 €

8d Number of museums with free entrance
Free entrance for all categories of public

8e Number of museums with museum-card

9 Temporary exhibitions

Includes only temporary exhibitions in the museum itself.

Note that it is important that the same exhibition cannot be included in two different years. The date of start or the date of closure of the temporary exhibition has to be taken into consideration.

9a Total number of temporary exhibitions ...

9b Of which own productions

9c Of which joined productions
Exhibitions produced with one or more partners (not necessary a museum) and where the museum has contributed with at least one object to the exhibition.

10 Expenditure (of museums)

10a Total of expenditures
Ordinary expenditures (column 10b) + extraordinary expenditures (column 10d)

10b Of which total of ordinary expenditures

10c Of which ordinary expenditures for staff

10d Of which extraordinary expenditures

10e Of which extraordinary expenditures for new collections

11 Income of museums

11a Total income of museums

11b Of which entry fees

11c Of which public subsidies

12 Public expenditure (for museums)

12a Total public expenditures for museums (in EUR)
Ordinary function costs as well as subsidies Includes every type of public financing source
Note that in countries in which inflation is rising high the date of the provided information has to be indicated

12b Of which public investments for museums
Extraordinary expenditures mentioned as that in the budgets are to be taken in account (normal function costs are to be mentioned in column 10b)
E.g.: new buildings, important restorations, major acquisitions (e.g.: collection of paintings)

13 Number of museums making use of computers

13a Total number of museums equipped with at least one computer

13b Of which for administrative purposes

13c Of which for visitor's information purposes (e.g. interactive gallery system)

13d Of which having a database for electronic inventory

13e Of which having an Internet access

14 Number of museums possessing a website

Number of museums possessing a website

15 Number of museums possessing an own website

15a Total number of museums possessing an own website

15b Of which are updating themselves their website

16 Number of museums ...

16a connected to a museum portal
A museum-portal is a web-site that offers a doorway into a world of information about museum topics; it is a system of integrated programs designed to make it easier for a user to find information;
Please specify here aside the portal connected to.

16b more than one museum portal
A museum-portal is simply a website that offers a doorway into a world of information about museum topics; it is a system of integrated programs designed to make it easier for a user to find information;
Please specify here aside the portals connected to.

16c (an)other portal(s) Please specify here aside the portal(s) connected to.

17 Museums with at least one special museum education programme ...

[Suggested notion of definition: "A "programme" is understood here as a "continuation of actions" that run on a more stable basis and is repeatable. A "programme" is based on acquired knowledge and addresses more the diffusion of the knowledge than it's discovering"]

17a Total

17b Of which for school children

17c Of which for ethnic minorities

17d Of which for senior citizens

17e Of which for others

18 Museums per 100.000 inhabitants on working group definition

(see point n°1 above)

[The coordinators concluded to rearrange the column]

19 Museums per 100.000 inhabitants on national criteria (see point n°1 above)

[The coordinators concluded to rearrange the column]

20 Visits per 100.000 inhabitants

Total number including free entrances

21 Visits per 100.000 inhabitants

Total number excluding free entrances

22 Average number of visits per museum according to working group definition

(see point n°1)

23 Average number of visits per museum according to national criteria

(see point n°1)

24 Staff per 100.000 inhabitants

Total staff.

25 Expenditure per capita (in EUR)

Expenditure per capita (in EUR)

26 Public expenditures per 100.000 inhabitants

Including investments.

27 Number of museums opened 200 days and more

Number of museums opened 200 days and more

28 Number of museums with more than 5.000 visits a year

Free entrance is also taken in account.

29 Number of museums necessary to reach ...

Free entrance is also taken in account.

29a 50 % of total visits

29b 75 % of total visits

 

30 Number of museums employing at least 1 specialised staff

Specialised staff: personal who has graduated the faculty of university level as well as personal with secondary education having graduated in a special training course in the museum sector.

31 Average price paid (in EUR)

[Income from entries (column 11b)] / [Total number of paid entries (column 6a - column 6b)]

32 Number of museums with at least one publication

Concerns only scientific research publications; excluding tourist guides, leave-sheets, etc.

33 Number of museums with at least one publication on an electronic data carrier

Concerns only scientific research publications, excluding tourist guides, leave-sheets, etc.

34 Museum participation

The percentage of the population from 15 years and older having visited a museum during the last 12 months (population survey).

35 Population (in millions)

[Note that the data here is not to be provided by the EGMUS participants]

36 Density

Inhabitants per square meter
[Note that the data here is not to be provided by the EGMUS participants]

37 Purchasing Power Parity (in EUR)

[Note that the data here is not to be provided by the EGMUS participants]

Definitions & Explanations

Since the establishment of one of the two predecessors of EGMUS, the Working Group for Museum Statistics in 1999, much effort has been spent on definition and selection of indicators.

The Luxembourg and Dutch co-ordinators of the Working Group designed a set of key indicators; the so called Abridged List of Key Museum Indicators (ALOKMI).

The feasibility of ALOKMI was discussed extensively during successive meetings of the group and, consequently, the list was revised in view of the participants’ comments. It soon became clear that different headings included in ALOKMI needed a further specification.

Eventually all EGMUS members agreed on definitions and explanations, that cover all the headings. Notwithstanding the agreement on definitions, the presentation of the data itself still requires quite a lot of explanatory remarks. The source of these data, national statistics and surveys, still vary considerably. The main reason for these differences are differences in the scope of these sources. For instance, some national statistics only cover museums which are financed by the state, or professionally-run, while other statistics omit certain aspects of the museums such as staff, income or expenditure. Such explanatory remarks are provided in the footnotes.

The ALOKMI table shows that there is quite some potential in the existing data sources to contribute to comparability. However, the number of footnotes to the existing table indicates that at present, a large number of restricting factors must still be considered when reading the data side by side. Download: Definitions and Explanations