I agree with Vincent Lyon's comments on docents and front line staff.  As
far as the public is concerned, they are the MOST important museum staff
simply because they are the only Museum staff they (the visitor) sees.
Consequently they must receive adequate training, evaluation, motivation and
recognition.

These people are not there simply to take the onus of public contact off of
the curatorial staff - they are at the Museum because they are the best way
to provide public contact.  Often better than curators.

After all of this my question to the list is why the debate - interesting as
it is - on proper terms, when the issue of visitors charters raised a couple
of weeks ago went unnoticed?  Having standards of public programs and
visitors' charters would, I think, go a long way towards
reducing fantastic history (or science or art).

P. Hill
Royal Saskatchewan Museum
                -----Original Message-----
                From:   Vincent Lyon [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
                Sent:   23 February 2001 10:38
                To:     [log in to unmask]
                Subject:        Re: Proper term

                My experience having been both floor staff and behind-scenes
staff is that
                docents will make up stuff to amuse themselves.  Curatorial
staff I have
                worked with has often had the attitude that it's on the
label, the docent
                will just give the same info.  They don't supervise.  That's
not universal
                of course.  I've known some places that write scripts for
docents and have
                them observed on occasion.  I think a good solution would be
drawing the
                docents into the mission of the museum and letting them feel
what they do
                is too important to be spreading false knowledge, and to
encourage them to
                bring any new facts they find for possibly adding to the
exhibit.  That way
                you can encourage scholarship at the same time.
                Vincent

                At 12:11 AM 2/23/2001 -0500, you wrote:
                >I've heard some volunteer docents in several museums tell
some real whoppers,
                >and I suspect that part of the problem is inadequate or
inappropriate
                >training.  I know in my own museum docents are not
generally trained by the
                >curatorial staff, which I've always thought was a mistake.
In fact, some of
                >the docents have no idea who the curators are.  I'm not
trying to generalize
                >about docents or docent training programs, but I've heard
enough errors of
                >fact to convince me that there is sometimes a problem, and
the innocent
                >public gets shortchanged and misinformed.  When one gives a
tour or lecture
                >in either a museum setting or a lecture hall, there's no
substitute for depth
                >of knowledge and expertise.  I'm not attempting to slam
museum educators and
                >their programs, and my evidence is purely personal and
anecdotal, but it's
                >clear to me that some institutions don't take seriously
enough their
                >obligation to disseminate accurate information to the
public through docent
                >tours

                Vincent T. Lyon
                Robert Crown Law Library
                Stanford University
                650-725-0810
                [log in to unmask]

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