Thank you for your patience with my question.

Next time I will check at least 2 dictionaries before asking.

My Concise Oxford does not contain the term. My Nelson Canadian (yes,
there really is such a thing) does and indicates it is U.S. usage for
either a teacher or lecturer at a university who is not a regular
faculty member or a lecturer or tour guide in a museum or cathedral.

As I am a relative newcomer to the museum world and a Canadian, I had
never run across the term. My sister, also a museum person in Canada,
thinks they use docent at the Art Gallery of Ontario and she tends to
associate the term with art galleries. Given that she works as a
costumed interpreter, she and her co-workers tend to use the term
volunteer or interpreter.


And on a happy note - we've had 8 inches of snow since last night and it
is still falling! Trucks are getting stuck, never mind the skateboarders
;)

--
Lauraine Armstrong
Curator of Collections

tel: 867-872-2859     Northern Life Museum
fax: 867-872-5808    PO Box 420 Fort Smith NT X0E 0P0

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"All knowledge, the totality of all questions and all answers, is
contained in the dog."
Franz Kafka

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