Hi Sylvia,

I would like to respond as someone who has benefitted greatly from the  
internships that I did. My experience is that internships vary by  
university, program, and actually, by student. The most successful  
internships that I had were truly a collaboration between myself and  
the hosting museum, where the museum received skilled work in exchange  
for providing a really fantastic learning experience (and later  
reference). Having said that, I am not sure that a formalized, prefab  
program would have worked well - my experience was more along the  
lines of suggesting, or talking though an internship idea, agreeing on  
a termed project with very clear institutional objectives and  
individual learning goals (by the end of this project I would like to  
be able to...), get the necessary approvals from educational  
institutions, and then get to work. The danger in these kinds of  
projects can be in no distinguishing between an internship and a  
volunteer program - a friend of mine was stung pretty badly by a lack  
of distinction between the two - she ended up feeling unappreciated,  
learned very little, and the institution she was interning for felt  
abandoned when the project ended.

You may want to consider putting together a group of projects that  
take a higher level of museological skill, which you can whip out when  
the next intern shows up (or is recruited). I am confident that you  
and the other staff members at your museum have a ton to teach,  
especially to those of us who are just beginning our careers, and I  
applaud your willingness to share your expertise.

Good Luck!

Taylor Felt


On Feb 14, 2012, at 10:07 AM, Sylvia Bruner wrote:

> Hello listers ....
>
> My institution is a small county museum.  Just like any other small  
> museum, we have limited funding.  Last year we were approached by a  
> local resident who needed an internship to complete her OU museum  
> studies courses.  We managed to finagle the situation so that she  
> could do her internship here, but this experience got me to thinking  
> that there surely is a better way.  Are there guidelines for  
> enabling a museum to host an internship?  Do requirements vary by  
> college?  I would love to develop some internal policies so that we  
> can be better prepared if this situation happens again, and of  
> course, so we can take advantage of the opportunity.
>
>
> Thank you!
>
> Sylvia Bruner
> [log in to unmask]
>
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