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Hi Charlie,

Not to be (totally) flip, but outside of NSF-funded (and to a lesser degree, since NSF usually provides the most money, other grant-funded) projects, how much of an issue is this?

Ever since the "guaranteed employment act for evaluators" era began at NSF, an evaluation plan is a "required" (at least if you want to get funded) part of NSF solicitations for the museum sector, and formalized museum exhibit evaluation has been discussed and written about a great deal since then. (Also museum evaluation has become big(ger) business --- lucky evaluators!) 

But outside of a relatively small(ish) group of institutions (like yours) formalized, recurrent exhibit evaluation doesn't seem to happen on a regular basis without the prod of funding coming with evaluation "strings" attached.

Despite the seemingly inbred dislike that some exhibits folks have for evaluation, for myself, I've come to appreciate "evaluation" as another set of tools that can provide useful observations and specifically actionable ways to improve exhibit ideas and components.  In that vein, for anyone who doesn't already have "Fostering Active Prolonged Engagement: The Art of Creating APE Exhibits" (Thanks Exploratorium! Thanks NSF!) on their reference shelf, the book describes excellent examples of the often messy process of exhibition development/improvement and the ways evaluation can inform that process.

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