Dear Mr. van Balgooy:  You bring up some very interesting and relevant
issues regarding AAM (and other) conferences.  I would like to see more
practical career building workshops that focus on workplace issues,
maintaining high standards of professionalism, ethics among museum
professionals, and working within hybrid organizations that fuse (or
attempt to fuse) people from differing professional walks of life.  I think
there is room for spirited conversation and serious contemplation on the
types of changes museum people are going through.

I would also like to see the issue of salaries addressed.  There are a lot
of museum professionals who have put in time, money, enthusiasm and
flexibility to work in a field that has historically not paid much in
salaries.  I am sure there are plenty of people out there who have stories
to tell of the museum position advertisement (for say a collections
manager, curator, or director) that requires a good deal of experience,
education, organizational and writing skills, financial savvy, and good
people skills for the priviledge of earning a mere $18,000 to 20,000 a
year.  I realize that many museums are not exactly cash cows, but there are
museums that can offer a decent salary but won't- for whatever reason.
Am I asking too much? (pun intended!)  Recruiting and keeping talented
professional staff should not be on the cheap.  I suppose many people will
work for a lot less than what they are worth just to get a job.  But, I
also think there is a moral imperative here.

Arlyn Danielson
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----------
From:   M. A. van Balgooy[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Tuesday, July 01, 1997 5:02 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: Museum News -Reply

Nancy Pope wrote:
>
> >>> What do others think about Museum News in general?
>
> I agree that MN seems more attuned to graphic style rather than content
> (which has become so repetitive that I rarely do more than flip through
the
> pages anymore). I would like to extend this discussion to the AAM
> conference sessions. Are there others who find little new in most of
those
> sessions?

I concur with Nancy's observations that MN rarely offers me anything
significant.  I especially grow suspect of its editorial stance when I
read about important museum issues in the LA Times yet never see a word
mentioned in MN (e.g., leadership issues at the LA County Museum of
Natural History).

As for the conference, I've grown to appreciate them mostly for the
contacts I make.  Some sessions are valuable, but mostly when they bring
in outside speakers to provide new or different perspectives.
Unfortunately, I've chaired a couple panels and the AAM (and other
organizations) doesn't encourage the use of "outsiders" (they want only
AAM members speaking, require registration fees or only passes for that
day).  I understand the session proposals are becoming more detailed and
complex (the EdComm version requires pages and pages on content and
speaker qualifications) in order to shake out some quality sessions.
But I'm not sure if the conference can ever achieve consistently high
quality sessions when the speakers are unpaid and research/scholarship
is not encouraged.  The result is the typical "here's a program I did
and how I did it" session.

I may have opened a can of worms, but I would like to see what others
think.

--
Max A. van Balgooy
mailto:[log in to unmask]

Chaffey Communities Cultural Center & Cooper Regional History Museum
  PO Box 772   Upland, CA 91785-0772
  Telephone (909) 982-8010
  Website:  http://www.culturalcenter.org

Homestead Museum
  15415 East Don Julian Road   Industry, CA  91745-1029
  Telephone (818) 968-8492
  Fax  (818) 968-2048
  Website:  http://www.homesteadmuseum.org