I'm surprised to see so much discussion devoted to volunteerism here on
this list.  Isn't the call to volunteering part of one's civic duty? Does
volunteering promote civic heath? Are museums not in an unique position
within a community (large or small) to reach out and culturally nourish the
very community they inhabit? Aren't volunteers often the back bone of the
museum support framework? Leave these people out of the discussion, their
value is priceless, it's off scale.

It seems to me that there are many issues here and for some sad reason they
are all being lumped under the same umbrella as people try to look for a
job in the museum field. Of course volunteering is a way to get one's foot
in the door, but I think it should be put under a separate category of
volunteers as it detracts from the good will of all the many volunteers who
devote their extra hours, (and who really has extra time these days) to
help out their local museums. I think what is really begin discussed is
"internships". Perhaps all this discussion is just a problem of semantics,
and a person looking for a job in a museum should be looking for an
apprenticeship, or internship program and simply not call it volunteering.

I am puzzled by Mr. Alexander statement "The notion of young professionals
having to work free as interns or volunteers is disgusting.  Don't you
value your own time?  Don't you have any worth?"  There have been models of
apprenticeships around for hundreds of years, and in most cultures. Most of
the museum programmes around the country tack on an internship requirement
as part of their coursework because they must know how competitive an
industry it is without that valuable experience. Surely what one learns in
a few short months as part of the internship/apprenticeship process has a
great deal of worth. Would you hire someone  who has spent a couple of
years reading books, and learning from case studies or the like but never
set foot in a museum registrars office? (lousy example but you get my drift
)
It's built in work experience.

Well that's my two cents. I'm sure it will piss someone off out there.

Louise