Hear hear!!!!

On Tue, 25 Jul 1995, Nancy J. Gill wrote:

> In <[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] (Jim of oz) writes:
> >
> >What gets kinda annoying is when you're trying to be a volunteer and then
> >just get blown off. While I don't have any specific "museum" skills, I am
> >very computer literate, can write, handy with tools and stuff, etc. The
> >local museum here has just kept saying call next week (for a month now)
> >and today as the final straw, I got disconnected while on hold. For a
> >place that needs as much work as they do, I would think they they'd be
> >happy to get some help.
> >
> >Thanks for listening, just blowing off some frustrated steam..........
>
> I had the same experience.  I worked on a project at our local museum, and the
n
> called and called trying to get somebody to "let" me be a volunteer!  Finally,
> I
> got through, about a year ago, and now I'm the volunteer coordinator.  And the
> first thing I found was that there were about three people shouldering all the
> burdens of the musuem, and they didn't have time to stop and plan jobs for any
> number of eager volunteers--they were too busy trying to keep things running.
> I
> suggest you go hang out at the museum, see what needs to be done, and propose
a
> plan of action which you will do yourself (or find your own help to do).
> For instance, if you're computer literate, how about making up some
> signs for the museum and its gift shop, etc.  Or draw up a plan for
> computerizing the musuem collection.  Does the curator need some forms
> designed?  If you can get the gist of an idea, and then do the
> development on your own, when you bring the finished product in, be
> prepared to have your feet kissed!
> You can write?  Super--have you ever written a grant application?  Can
> you do research?  How about taking oral histories from 'old-timers' in
> your town? Your curator knows who they are, and can give you an
> introduction, but has never had the time to actually conduct the
> interviews.
> They need volunteers, but they don't need people who need to be coddled
> and babied along.  They need self-starters who will sieze the
> initiative to do what needs to be done.  If they need people to move
> stuff, you show up.  If they need people on committees, you volunteer.
> And you don't do these things because you expect to be thanked--you do
> them because they'll help your museum.
>
> --
> Nancy J. Gill ([log in to unmask])
> Alameda, CA
>
> The people I'm furious with are the women's
> liberationists. They keep getting up on
> soapboxes and proclaiming women are brighter
> than men. That's true, but it should be kept
> quiet or it ruins the whole racket.
> Anita Loos (1893-1981)
> American screenwriter
>