American Alliance of Museums (AAM)

Field-wide services:the Alliance serves as the u.s. accrediting body for Museums. As the museum field's mark of distinction, accreditation offers high-profile, peer-based validation of a museum'Museums's operations and impact through our core documents verification program. The Alliance evaluates a museum'Museums's five core policy documents against a set of required elements. The Alliance's museum assessment program (map), supported through a cooperative agreement between the institute of museum and library services and the Alliance, provides technical assistance to all types of Museums to improve operations through self-study and a consultative peer site visit. The Alliance's inclusion work addressing diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion within the entire museum field has lead to further research and programming available to all Museums and museum professionals in navigating this pivotal work in an ever-changing professional landscape.

Publications and business enterprises: the Alliance's award-winning magazine addresses the issues and challenges facing Museums today and is a must-read for those who work for Museums and those who love them. Published bi-monthly, recent issues have focused on inclusion and accessibility, civic engagement, audience engagement, and crisis management. The aam press and bookstore offers the best and most comprehensive professional literature in print and ebook formats, making them the go-to source for all titles critical to the work of Museums from accessibility, interpretation/education and audience research to technology, mission/institutional planning, collections stewardship, financial sustainability and more. The Alliance is proud to maintain an online library of over 2,000 guidelines, articles, and fact sheets for our members on all aspects of museum operations. Our members-only weekly e-newsletter, aviso, provides late-breaking news on federal legislation affecting Museums, upcoming seminars and workshops, federal grant deadlines, and Alliance activities and services.

Meetings and professional education:the Alliance's annual meeting & museum expo brings together museum professionals from around the world and is the museum field's premier professional development opportunity. The event showcases the best thinking from practitioners and visionaries on the major issues confronting us and the communities we serve. While showcasing the latest museum products and services through numerous professional development programs, the Alliance provides a robust calendar of opportunities designed to help museum colleagues build professional skills, manage their careers, foster communities of practice, share expertise and contribute to common standards and best practices.