Over a three-week period (December 28, 2007 through January 27, 2008) an in-gallery evaluation examined the use and effectiveness of a Spanish-language brochure provided to visitors at the exhibition Danza de la cabrita (The Goat's Dance). The effectiveness of the brochure was determined by quantity of brochures taken, in-gallery observations, and visitor interviews. Seventeen interviews yielded data for further analysis; of these interviews 59% were in Spanish, 54% in English, and 6% in both languages.

Download the evaluation report:
Spanish Language Brochure Evaluation (10pp., 170KB)

Findings:

• The brochure was not heavily used in the exhibition (highest use was 8% in select galleries).
• Although the visitors who were observed and interviewed picked up the Spanish brochure, they overwhelming did not use the brochure in the exhibition. They told evaluators that they were going to review it at home and/or keep as a souvenir.
• Only 10,350 Spanish language brochures were picked up, as opposed to 30,712 English language brochures for the run of the exhibition.
• The exhibition attracted a fairly bilingual audience: 59% of those interviewed, who had picked up the Spanish language brochure, felt more comfortable conducting the interview in English.
• The majority of the respondents expressed enthusiasm for bilingual materials and encouraged the Museum to offer more.
• More than half the visitors to the galleries read the object labels. If we want to reach visitors with an interpretive message in any language, labels seem the best place to do it. None of the visitors interviewed used the audio guide.

Partly as a result of these findings, a Museum policy on second-language didactics for exhibitions was written. The policy established that the most pertinent information would be provided in a second language for visitors to select exhibitions where the content is of strong interest to specific audiences, or for exhibitions for which the institution plans significant outreach to specific audiences.