>> I would be interested to know how many of you consider your visitors
>> 'customers' and whether you think the perceived ability to deliver
'quality
>> customer service' should take priority over qualifications and
experience in a
>> museum environment?
>>

Take priority *over* qualifications (I assume you mean academic or
professional) and experience?  Certainly not.  Is it of importance?
Absolutely. It is a sine qua non of any service industry (I see everyone
out there shuddering) and museums are indeed (here it comes!) service
industries. They are service industries *based* on academic/professional
content, or "product", to use that dreaded business lingo.  Anyone who
antagonizes visitors/customers or simply isn't good with them, harms the
museum's mission (ah, there's a more familiar term).  Who amongst us does

not loathe a nasty or incompetant salesperson, and by extension the
company they work for?  Obviously, the public (including us) react no
differently to museum staff -- and the institutions they work for.

I'd say "quality customer service" is a perfectly good term to adopt and
get used to, and yes, the ability to delivery it is an important
qualification for museum personnel.
-------------------------------------
name: amalyah keshet
director, visual resources / the israel museum, jerusalem
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
date: 10/11/96
visit our Web site at http://www.imj.org.il
-------------------------------------