Matthew, Jerrie, Timothy et al.:

You miss the point of a visitors charter completely!

This has nothing to do with those in the safety of administrative
hallways and collections vaults.  Those who organize exhibitions, raise
funds, conserve artifacts, etc are safe from visitors.

I am more concerned with protecting the museum and staff from
accusations that we don't provide or do enough for our visitors.  I
believe we do plenty.  So, think of visitor services as the equivalent
of customer service in stores.  When someone has a complaint, it would
be helpful to have prepared text indicating what is and is not within a
museum's standards of service.  (It would be wonderful to have this
available for distribution to angry visitors, to include it in
brochures, to post it on web sites, etc.)  After all, it's funny that
visitors expect the world, and yet front-line staff hear only the
criticisms.

Imagine receiving criticism about that over which you have no control
because Director of Museums (Matthew), Curator of Collections (Jerrie),
or Registrar (Timothy) made those decisions and left you to deal with
thousands of unhappy visitors!

Try looking at this issue of visitors charters from your front-line
staffs' perspective.  A visitors charter -- IMHO -- has little (if
anything) to do with the museum's employees -- other than be a guideline
of reasonable limits for front-line staff.  There is no reason, I
suppose, why an employee handbook cannot be gleaned for ideas (and text)
for a visitors charter.

Matthew White wrote:

> Visitor service is not rocket science or even political science.

Thanks.  It's nice to know my profession is so highly respected.
Without someone dealing with the public, there would be havoc.  Clearly,
that would be a disaster.  I presume it's been a while, Matthew, since
you've had to deal with a ranting & raving parent who are unhappy about
"pornography," teachers who are unhappy they cannot get a docent without
having reserved one at least two weeks in advance, moody brides and
grooms who are unhappy the events coordinator is not in when they "just
popped in to clarify some contractual details," or someone who doesn't
feel he/she should have to pay admission to eat in the cafe which is an
'amenity' -- not an 'independent restaurant'?

(Or, another possible explanation for your "laisez faire" attitude
toward visitor services -- perhaps your facility does not have such a
variety of amenities/services in which case you may not prize visitor
services as much as other institutions?)

> We know what needs to be done and there are some fine books,
> workshops, etc. If your institution takes it seriously, you don't need
> a Visitor's Charter to tell you what to do. If your institution does
> not, I cannot see how a visitor's charter will change that. Like I
> said, it all sounds reasonable and righteous in theory, but I just
> don't see it truly helping in those institutions that truly need it.

Again, this has little (if anything) to do with internal uses and more
to do with external uses.

Sincerely,

Jay Heuman, Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator
Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68102
342-3300 (telephone)     342-2376 (fax)
http://www.joslyn.org

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