Users of our services deserve the best. Measuring themselves against agreed standards helps institutions to improve their services to the people of the West Midlands and their visitors. We define standards widely, including codes of practice, best practice and guidelines, as well as the narrower definition of technical specifications. We acknowledge the diversity of the sector and the qualitative and quantitative nature of existing standards within it.

We will:

• Assist the MLA Partnership to engage with bodies developing new standards to ensure that they are fit for purpose
• Using existing evidence, gain a regional overview of standards achieved across the region in our sector
• Help implement sector standard schemes
• Manage Accreditation, the museums’ national standard scheme, in the region
• Further develop the Designation Scheme which will identify and support nationally important collections in museums, libraries and archives