The importance of museums as a non-profit institute for cultural education is
increasing all over the world. Reflecting such international trend, interest on
museums in Korea is also growing. Due to the change of cultural environment
internationally, the function of museums has been extended into a life-long
institute for cultural education. Moreover, the previous role of museums to merely
collect and display materials is transformed into the role to enhance the identity of
a nation or a local community. Ultimately museums as a tourism resource make
economic contributions and become increasingly important as a central axis for
developing into the culturally advanced nation.
As a result of, the number of museums in Korea radically increased over
700 including national, public, private and university museums. Currently professional
museums specialized in various fields are in preparation for construction. Here, the
degree of activation varies by individual museum in the sectors of display,
research and education which are the core business sectors of a museum. To
improve such condition, significant efforts are made to improve and vitalize
museum management including various cultural events held by the museum and
reinforcement of the customer service. However, compared with the dramatic
increase in quantity, the museum management which is a qualitative aspect
substantially differs by each institute.
In particular, some museums organize special exhibitions thanks to the
Lottery Fund Project of the Korean Museum Association or receive budget to
support their professional manpower. Here, the system to evaluate procedures and
the result of such funded projects differ in each sector and the evaluation system
is not structured systemically. Accordingly the parameter to estimate the degree of
activation is inarticulate so that various solutions should be examined to solve the
problem. Thus, the aim of this study was to suggest necessity to introduce an
evaluation system of museums based on the analysis of the actual conditions of
the existing evaluation system currently implemented in Korea. It was also to
draw up plans to introduce an evaluation system of museums so that the museum
management can be revitalized.
The existing evaluation system currently implemented in Korea was reviewed
in detail based on the case study and literature-based research, hence promoting a
better understanding of the system. Next, definition and necessity of the evaluation
of museums were presented through the domestic and foreign case study on the
museum evaluation system. Subsequently they were reflected on designing the
solutions to introduce an evaluation system. The result of the study to introduce
an evaluation system is as follows. First, the Promotion Laws of Museums and
Art Galleries should be reviewed and complemented to improve the current
museum policy. In addition, a suggestion was made to establish an exclusive
division in charge of museums under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism
which is the institute responsible for museums. Second, suggestions were made on
establishing evaluation standards for a solid establishment of the evaluation system,
including a renewed consciousness on the evaluation system, agreement among the
interested parties, and arranging a legal basis. Third, it was suggested to introduce
an Evaluation and Accreditation System for museums.
Ultimately the significance of this study lies in providing a stepping stone to
encourage future studies and active discussion on introducing the evaluation system
of museums with multidimensional access methods. Eventually the competitive
power of museums can be enhanced and management activation can be achieved,
therefore, the goal of developing into a culturally advanced nation can be realized.