Subject: CLIR REPORT: Managing Cultural Assets from a Business Perspective
NINCH-ANNOUNCE (david@ninch.org)
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 17:32:51 -0500
Message-Id: <v04210113b51804a5df45@[192.100.21.23]> Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 17:32:51 -0500 To: ninch-announce@cni.org From: NINCH-ANNOUNCE <david@ninch.org> Subject: CLIR REPORT: Managing Cultural Assets from a Business Perspective
NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
News on Networking Cultural Heritage Resources
from across the Community
April 10, 2000
New Report from Council on Library and Information Resources
on Risk-Assessment Model for Managing Cultural Assets
"Managing Cultural Assets from a Business Perspective"
<http://www.clir.org>
>Subject: CLIR Press Release
>Date: Mon, 10 Apr 00 15:47:28 -0700
>From: Kathlin Smith <ksmith@clir.org>
>To: "David Green" <david@ninch.org>
Report Describes Risk-Assessment Model for Managing Cultural Assets
Washington, D.C.-The Council on Library and Information Resources
(CLIR), in cooperation with the Library of Congress (LC), has
published Managing Cultural Assets from a Business Perspective, by
Laura Price, of KPMG LLP, and Abby Smith, of CLIR. The report
describes how LC developed and implemented a plan for greater
accountability over its collections.
Libraries acquire their collections to meet the needs of their
present and future users. The collections, and the services that make
them accessible, are essential to fulfilling the library's mission.
Most libraries have focused more on the costs of acquiring and
maintaining collections than on their potential as assets that are
vital to institutional productivity.
This report presents a model for the management of library and
archival collections that defines collections as core assets and
seeks to make them maximally productive while controlling risks to
their integrity. The model is not based on the monetary value of
library holdings. Instead, it focuses on business risk and proposes a
framework of controls to minimize the risks that threaten the
viability of those assets. It is not always evident which investments
in collection development, preservation, and security will best serve
the collections at a given time. With this model, managers can
identify priorities for institutional investments in collections and
make more compelling budget justifications for necessary resources,
because the relationship between the library's assets and its mission
work is made explicit to financial decision makers.
The fact that the language of this model comes from business, and
accounting in particular, is indicative of the new environment in
which all cultural institutions find themselves-one in which business
increasingly sets standards for operations and accountability. To
obtain the necessary resources for mission work, library managers
must be able to express and justify their needs in terms familiar to
financial officers and funding organizations-in terms of business
risk.
The risk-assessment methodology described in the report has its
origins in the efforts of the Library of Congress to better manage
its finances and strengthen its core business. Developed to be used
in a working national library, the methodology is now an integral
part of LC's annual audit. However, the fundamental problems that
Library staff faced as they developed the first-ever model to
"account" for the well-being of heritage assets are the same as those
facing any library-public, private, multimedia, or single-format.
The report was developed with the cooperation of the Library of
Congress through a partnership between the Council on Library and
Information Resources and KPMG LLP, an international audit and
business advisory firm. The Public Services-Assurance Practice of
KPMG LLP developed the business risk model for the Library of
Congress and co-wrote the report with CLIR.
Managing Cultural Assets from a Business Perspective is available
from the Council on Library and Information Resources for $15
prepaid, including postage and handling. Checks should be made
payable to CLIR and mailed to CLIR Publication Orders, 1755
Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 500, Washington, D.C., 20036-2124.
Credit card orders may be placed by calling CLIR at 202-939-4750,
sending a fax to 202-939-4765, or sending e-mail to
mailto:info@clir.org. The full text is also available on CLIR's Web
site, http://www.clir.org.
The Council on Library and Information Resources works in partnership
with libraries, archives, and other information providers to advocate
collaborative approaches to preserving the nation's intellectual
heritage and strengthening the many components of its information
system. It works to support institutions as they integrate
audiovisual and digital resources and services into their
well-established, print-based environments.
==============================================================
NINCH-Announce is an announcement listserv, produced by the National
Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH). The subjects of
announcements are not the projects of NINCH, unless otherwise noted;
neither does NINCH necessarily endorse the subjects of announcements.
We attempt to credit all re-distributed news and announcements and
appreciate reciprocal credit.
For questions, comments or requests to un-subscribe, contact the editor:
<mailto:david@ninch.org>
==============================================================
See and search back issues of NINCH-ANNOUNCE at
<http://www.cni.org/Hforums/ninch-announce/>.
==============================================================
This archive was generated by hypermail 2a16 : Thu Dec 21 2000 - 23:30:15 EST