Continuous improvement and the cultural environment: Perceptions of the players of museum institutions and public libraries

The changes brought by cultural democratization have led to the diversification of tasks, a specialization of staff and the segmentation of functions in museum institutions, forcing them to review their ways of doing things and their management methods to become more efficient and effective. This study has two objectives: to measure the perceptions of managers of museum institutions in Quebec towards continuous improvement and to compare them with those of public library stakeholders in Quebec. Managers of Quebec museum institutions answered a survey about the concept of "improvement", change and continuous improvement. The results reveal a favorable perception of the managers of museum institutions regarding these concepts but show a slightly different reality with the actors of the libraries. These results provide a better understanding of why continuous improvement is lacking in museum institutions and public libraries.