I worked at a house museum a few years ago with an interesting approach.
All of the guides/docents were given blank postcards.  If someone asked a
question about something we didn't know and couldn't find quickly, we gave
them a card and asked them to fill it out at the end of the tour and drop it
in the box provided.  The curator would then answer them on the same card
(if space allowed) and mail it back to the visitor.

This was a bit hard on the curator, but she had interns who assisted with
these small research questions.  Most visitors were not interested enough to
actually fill out the card.  Those who were greatly appreciated the contact
with the curator.

Last but not least, docents were much less tempted to speculate and
extrapolate and the curator got a sense of what information was missing or
forgotten from training.

Sarah Andrews

-----Original Message-----
From: Trent Litchfield [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2001 3:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Docents


I think this approach is flawed.  Visitors have a right to get the most
correct answers available.  This might mean asking someone else in the
museum.  A docent is the first contact and in many cases the only contact
the public has with your museum.  If they give incorrect information it
reflects poorly on your organization.  If visitors are given information
that they discover is incorrect they may not visit again or they may decide
not to make donations to a museum that is not doing its job.  If a docent
provided incorrect information by mistake then it is understandable but to
have them giving false information because the museum is too busy to
properly educate them is not acceptable.  You are talking down to your
visitors and your docents.  I would not feel comfortable working as a docent
in this situation.

Trent Litchfield
Murray State University


----- Original Message -----
From: Janice Klein <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2001 10:55 AM
Subject: Docents

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