It sounds to me like what is being disagreed upon is only about %10 or less
of the questions asked. I think we agree on the other %90 or so.
Anyone who has given tours for any length of time knows that you mostly hear
the same questions over and over. These can certainly be anticipated and an
FAQ kept. The first museum I ever worked at put a small three ring binder in
every room that had all of the object information on the artifacts contained
therein. It worked quite well. But you always get questions that cannot be
answered quickly (for all of the reasons David gave in is original "rant" [I
disagree with that assessment btw] and more) and these are much more
problematic. Again I think these are a small total of the over all number of
questions, but on the other hand they usually come from our most interested
and intellectually & emotionally invested visitors.
I come down on the side of those who think we cannot answer everything right
away no matter how much we think we should and want to, which I'll be
willing to bet most of us wishes. (My biggest problem with this position is
that one question of this nature has the potential to inordinately
monopolize a docent's time. Who, might I ask, is serving the other visitors
while the docent tracks down the answer to the rare stumper of a question?)
I have told docents under my supervision from their first day that there is
no shame in saying you don't know the answer. As so many have pointed out,
in a institutional culture that discourages this answer, encourages false
answers, exaggerations, and over simplifications. On the other hand I am not
sure I would put all of the onus on the customer to get the answer ALL on
there own.
There are already some very creative ways to walk a middle ground and serve
that wonderful visitor who asked the great question. (and I mean that
sincerely, unless a visitor is deliberately trying to stump me to show off
his own knowledge, I enjoy intelligent questions I cannot easily answer.
They engender some of the best discussions I have ever had with visitors) I
have seen museums hand out bibliographies associated with permanent and
temporary exhibits. I have seen museums actually have books available in
exhibits for research and reading. I like the idea of the question card
another poster brought up. I have also seen guest books used in a similar
fashion. I have supervised docents who couldn't answer questions and busted
their buns to find out and write back to the visitor with an answer (more
than one membership was earned in this way). In this internet age we can
also refer someone to a web site or email address where they can pose a
question (from a kiosk in our galleries? Why not?) We have an "answer man"
on our web site who gets great questions regularly and we are about to
institute an archives of these questions so later visitors and staff can
search them. (again, from kiosks in our own galleries? we'll see) I also
have the luxury of having a team of scientists available literally 24/7. We
have a teleconferencing exhibit where guests can talk one-on-one with the
Observers on the summit and ask them a question or two. But I realize that
very few museums have this resource. And finally, I believe that some
questions are just too involved and complex to be answered by floor staff.
Sometimes they need to be referred to the library as an official research
request. Not often, to be sure, but it happens.
My point is that I think we agree on most of this issue. And in those
situations when we do get a "stumper" there are many creative ways to get an
answer to the visitor, maybe not immediately, but eventually and more
completely than is always possible on the floor of an exhibit. And you know
what, no matter how hard we try, no matter how big our libraries and
databases become, and no matter how much we train the floor staff, and no
matter how much info we put at their finger tips, some visitor will still
ask one we never thought of and will send us scurrying to the archives. I
wouldn't have it any other way. What museums need a systemic way to serve
that visitor so that his question does not go completely unanswered for
long. And I would submit, that given the variety of institutions in this
world, no answer or solution will work for everyone. We all need to find
that which works best for us given our resources and limitations.
--
Matthew White
Director of Museums
Mount Washington Observatory
www.mountwashington.org
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