Using Museums, Archives and Libraries to develop a learning community: a strategic plan for action

A NIACE Response to the Resource Consultation Paper.

Published: June 2001

1. NIACE welcomes the opportunity to comment on this strategic plan for action and wishes to endorse Resource’s vision that museums, archives and libraries belong at the heart of people’s lives, contributing to their enjoyment and inspiration, cultural values, learning, economic prosperity and social equity. This recognition places learning at the heart of what museums, libraries and archives set out to provide. 

2. In particular we welcome the notion of ‘cultural citizenship’ which recognises the entitlement of citizens to cultural experiences and which positions museums, archives and libraries as active players within wider cultural and educational initiatives to counteract social exclusion. We also recognise the potential of museums, archives and libraries to stimulate curiosity, creativity, enjoyment and learning – all of which are vital ingredients when it comes to enhancing the quality of people’s lives. 

3. This action plan sets out in a clear and systematic way how Resource will go about implementing its strategic agenda, including gathering evidence from practice to test and measure the achievement of its priorities, publicising and promoting best practice.

4. It is appropriate and relevant to connect the thinking about access, inclusion and learning in museums, archives and libraries to wider government agendas concerning lifelong learning, combating social exclusion and neighbourhood renewal etc because cultural institutions may be more successful in engaging people in learning for pleasure, self development and greater cultural awareness than some more formal educational institutions. Engaging the participation of under represented and minority groups will clearly contribute enormously to the vision of a learning society. It will also be important not to lose sight of promoting participation and learning for their own sake and protecting the non-utilitarian aspects of learning. There is a risk that cultural institutions may become somewhat incorporated by social policy agendas concerned with ‘reforming and informing’ people at the expense of exciting them, intriguing them or encouraging their creativity. 

5. Many of the concerns expressed in the strategy about access and inclusion for example are shared by other providers and advocates for adult learning outside the culture sector. Something is already known about outreach and informal learning, learning needs, barriers to access and participation in formal learning and about ways of recognising and measuring the wider benefits of learning, for example. But the work of museums, archives and libraries has a lot to teach more formal educational institutions about learning that is unconstrained by accreditation and qualifications. Closer collaboration between the culture sector and the adult and community education sector - at both regional and national level - would be mutually beneficial. The proposed Regional Support Units should have close links with local Learning Partnerships Learning and Skills Councils in relation to adult learning and to Local Strategic Partnerships in relation to neighbourhood renewal. 

6. Issues relating to access and participation for minority ethnic communities and other under-represented groups is a key issue in both the cultural and adult learning sectors. The concern to reflect and celebrate diversity is to be welcomed and will rely upon increased consultation and collaboration with representatives of minority and under-represented groups. It also implies a serious investment in capacity building and staff development among those staff who will inevitably be drawn into a more active and educative role. In order to respond well to the challenges of recognition and celebration, it is vital that the promotion of equal opportunities is central to strategic planning and development and is not treated as an add-on.

7. Although we recognise that an important issue for museums, archives and libraries is the need to measure the impact which you have and to be able to demonstrate its scale and significance to government and other stakeholders, it is well to be aware that systems of measurement and quality assurance borrowed from the private sector in order to manage business priorities will not necessarily do justice to the qualitative impact of museums, libraries and archives on the lives of those people who enjoy your services. In terms of promoting and gathering evidence of learning, if the methods chosen serve to turn what is special and valued about informal learning and cultural engagement into something that is more akin to formal provision, it could deter the very learners you are most keen to attract. 

8. How will consultation with participants and the voices of participants be heard and recorded? We assume that it will be possible to devise interactive and fun ways of eliciting comment and feed back. Probably the best way to build up a qualitative picture that does justice to the complexity and diversity of participants learning and participation is to use a variety of methods in order to capture the richness of the impact you must have.

9. A visual representation or chart which puts the separate time lines together would be useful in order to read across what is intended to be going on at the same time in the strategy plan for action.