It could be argued that the largest and most critical investment every museum makes is in its own integrity with respect to the responsibilities of acting as a nonprofit charity.

We often understand those responsibilities in their limited scope of implications for financial management. But by far the more engaging aspects are the general instructions to act in the interest of the general public as we undertake our collection stewardship responsibilities. That we can and frequently do talk about the importance of public trust in cultural heritage collecting and preservation institutions is evidence enough that the value and fundamental importance of this investment is not lost on the general public.

Remarkably – and dauntingly – the appropriate use of the information and communication technologies we have at hand represents one of the single greatest increments in opportunity for ensuring return on investments in the public good. This may not be as susceptible to discrete analysis as the institutional returns on investing in fully digital image capture / storage / just-in-time production / automated distribution, but let’s have a go at it.

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Investing for the Public - Text (PDF file)
Investing for the Public - Slides (PPT file)

Kenneth Hamma is Executive Director for Digital Policy and Initiatives at the J. Paul Getty Trust in Los Angeles. He oversees the management of the Getty Trust website, as well as strategic planning for information management across Getty programs including the Museum, Research Institute, Conservation Institute, and Foundation.

He currently serves as a member of the Joint Committee on Archives, Libraries and Museums sponsored by the SAA, ALA and AAM; director of the Museum Domain Management Association, the sponsor of the museum TLD; member of the User Advisory Board for Gallery Systems; and member of the advisory board of the American Association of Museum's Nazi Era Provenance Internet Portal. Until 2003 he served as board member for the Art Museum Image Consortium, the Consortium for the Interchange of Museum Information, and the National Initiative for Networked Cultural Heritage. He has also served as advisor to EU project Artiste and board member for EU project musEnic.

From 1996 to 2004, he was Assistant Director and from 1987 to 1996 Associate Curator of Antiquities at the Getty Museum.