provided to The Santiva Chronicle
Alliance Accreditation brings national recognition to a museum for its commitment to excellence, accountability, high professional standards and continued institutional improvement. Developed and sustained by museum professionals for over 50 years, the Alliance’s museum accreditation program is the field’s primary vehicle for quality assurance, self-regulation, and public accountability. It strengthens the museum profession by promoting practices that enable leaders to make informed decisions, allocate resources wisely, and remain financially and ethically accountable to provide the best possible service to the public.
Of the nation’s estimated 33,000 museums, roughly 1,100 are currently accredited. Accreditation is a very rigorous but highly rewarding process that examines all aspects of a museum’s operations. To earn accreditation, a museum first must conduct a year of self-study and then undergo a site visit by a team of peer reviewers. AAM’s Accreditation Commission, an independent and autonomous body of museum professionals, considers the self-study and visiting committee report to determine whether a museum should receive accreditation.
“Accreditation is a monumental achievement,” said Marilyn Jackson, AAM President & CEO. “The process demonstrates an institution’s commitment to best practice and is flexible enough to be accomplished by museums of any size.”
“The museum is glad to be re-accredited and we appreciate all AAM’s work and close evaluation of both our programmatic and operational plans and activities,” said National Shell Museum & Aquarium Executive Director Sam Ankerson. “This achievement also speaks to the day-in, day-out excellent work by our staff and good and consistent Board leadership.”
The Museum is also accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) and is one of only about a dozen institutions to be accredited by both AAM and AZA.
Learn more about the museum at ShellMuseum.org/about.
About the Museum: The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium is a natural history museum and aquarium, and the only museum in the United States devoted primarily to shells and mollusks. Its mission is to educate and inspire an understanding of mollusks, their shells, and their habitats using exceptional experiences, collections, and science. Permanent exhibitions on view include the Great Hall of Shells which displays highlights of the Museum’s collection of more than 600,000 shells, as well as the Living Gallery of Aquariums and over 60 species of marine life. For more information, call (239) 395-2233.
About the American Alliance of Museums: The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) is the only organization representing the entire museum field, from art and history museums to science centers and zoos. Since 1906, we have been championing museums through advocacy and providing museum professionals with the resources, knowledge, inspiration, and connections they need to move the field forward. For more information, visit aam-us.org.