Texas Collections Inventory & Needs Assessment Pilot Danielle Cunniff Plumer, Ph.D., M.S.I.S. Texas State Library and Archives Commission Society of American Archivists August 13, 2009, Austin, TX

City of Dallas, “Fair Park Mural Conservation Project.” Available at

Texas State Library and Archives Commission, “Texas Legation Records ( ).” Available at

Lone Star Flight Museum, “AIC Recovery Team at LSFM.” Available at

Heritage Health Index Recommendations Every institution recommits to providing safe conditions for the collections they hold in trust Every collecting institution develops an emergency plan to protect its collections Every single institution assigns responsibility for caring for collections to members of its staff Individuals at all levels of government and in the private sector assume responsibility for providing the support that will allow these collections to survive

Heritage Health Index Recommendations Every institution recommits to providing safe conditions for the collections they hold in trust Every collecting institution develops an emergency plan to protect its collections Every single institution assigns responsibility for caring for collections to members of its staff Individuals at all levels of government and in the private sector assume responsibility for providing the support that will allow these collections to survive

Texas Planning Grant Partners: Texas State Library and Archives Commission Texas Historical Commission Amigos Library Services Kilgarlin Center for Preservation of the Cultural Record, The University of Texas at Austin School of Information Texas Association of Museums Texas Library Association

Texas Collections Surveys Texas Historical Records Advisory Board 1978, 1985, , “Too Lightly Esteemed in the Past” 2006, Hurricane Rita Post-Disaster Survey Amigos Library Services 1991, Needs Preservation Survey Summerlee Commission on Texas History, 1992 Texas Historical Commission 2004, “Summerlee Revisited” Heritage Preservation 2005, “Heritage Health Index”

Pilot Survey Goals Create a master database of libraries, archives, museums, and government agencies Develop a survey instrument for a basic collections inventory and needs assessment Test the survey instrument with a stratified random sample of 200 institutions Results from Heritage Health Index, 2005

Master Database 926 Museums and Archives Texas Historical Commission Texas Association of Museums Society of Southwest Archivists American Association of Museums Association of Zoos and Aquariums 805 Libraries (excluding schools) Texas State Library and Archives Commission Texas Library Association 592 State and County Government Agencies Texas State Library and Archives Commission 2,323 Total Institutions 5,626 other institutions excluded!

Survey Instrument Question Sources Heritage Health Index Survey (2005) CoSA Survey of Historical Records Repositories (1996) Mid-America Arts Alliance Museum Needs Assessment (2008) North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Survey of NC Cultural Repositories (2000) Advisory Board 11 members (4 archivists, 3 librarians, 4 museum professionals) Selected questions, revised language Beta tested survey on institutional collections Final Survey 26 questions 7 collections inventory, 9 needs assessment, 10 demographic

Pilot Test 200 Institutions Stratified by region (Texas Senate districts) Stratified by type of institution (museum, library, government) Survey format Electronic (SurveyGizmo) Supplemented by telephone surveys where needed Response rate of 85% overall, 70% by strata Focus Group Survey participants and advisory board Review survey results Decide whether to proceed to implementation

Contacts Danielle Cunniff Plumer Texas Heritage Digitization Initiative Texas State Library and Archives Laura Casey Museum Services Program Texas Historical Commission IMLS Connecting to Collections Texas Connecting to Collections