Thank you for your response.  My perspective comes from the fact that
in the internships I had (NPS, IMS, National Museum of Natural History,
Tower of London, etc.) I did highly independent work with little to no
supervision.  I assumed that all museums required interns with specific
and proven qualifications since this was my experience.

  I agree about the problem of relying too heavily on intern and volunteer
labor -- I know it frustrated me when I was doing the same work as
those earning $30K plus for next to nothing.  Another problem is the use
of "consultants" -- the practice of hiring people for term positions without
benefits.  I know many people in these positions and it is a disgrace, but
what other choice do those of us new to the profession have?

Laura Mahoney
Office of Sponsored Projects
Smithsonian Institution
[log in to unmask]

>>> kjk <[log in to unmask]> 03/08/97 06:13am >>>
someone wrote:
>> Another would be to offer internships not only to qualified people but
>> also to teenage mothers, people transitioning out of welfare,
displaced
>> homemakers, what are termed "at risk" youth...

Laura Mahoney:
>> I am following this discussion with interest, but have refrained from
>> responding since I honestly haven't been sure how to.  (I'm an Anglo
>> female who personally feels at a disadvantage since I am never, and
>> probably never will be, part of a target population for hiring initiatives
in
>> museums).  I do take exception to this one comment, however. While I
>> agree that internships should be offered to people other than
students,
>> etc. I do think that they should at least be qualified -- perhaps with
some
>> prior volunteer experience if not education.  Most all museums that I
>> know will take volunteers of any background (hey, who can turn
down
>> free and willing labor!), but an internship typically involves a great deal
of
>> time on the part of a supervisor and I do not think it is too much for a
>> supervisor to require some prior experience.

kjk: my reading of the original post is that the author is calling for
internship positions to be created or targeted based on the specific skills
or cultural knowledge of the potential intern. for example, if an institution
is considering presenting exhibitions or events aimed at getting, say
inner-city women into the room, why not hire a woman from the inner
city to help work on some aspect of the program?  she'd have to be
qualified for some aspect of the work as she (theoretically) knows the
target community better than the staff. the institution would in fact be
hiring someone qualified for the job, as the job is being tailored
specifically for her qualifications.  she will gain museum experience on
the job, which is what (i always thought) an internship is supposed to be
about.

if i'm misreading the original post and the call is to simply hire based on
color, gender, religion, etc.  then i'm completely opposed. any employee, it
seems to me, has to be able to bring something tangible to the institution.

either way, we should avoid confusing the terms "qualified" and
"experienced."

Gregory Scheib:
>Cant agree with you on this one Laura.  You've got to get your foot in
the
>door somewhere, and prior museum experience/volunteerism doesnt
need to be
>a pre-requisite for a first time internship -- and frankly, volunteers
>need just as much supervision and mentoring as an intern does.

kjk: depends what you have them do. when i was in position of
supervision, i tended to give more responsible (read: hands on/potentially
dangerous to files, computers, etc.) work to interns or volunteers with
more experience.  those with less experience could work on mailings,
etc.
(read: tasks that don't require a lot of trust).  of course if i was available
to keep an eye on them, the responsibility curve went up for everyone.

we've got to treat people as individuals and not as members of groups.
some volunteers/interns are more capable at various tasks than others.
people fall into these job categories for various reasons, and their official
titles rarely tell the whole story of their individual expertise. the same
goes for groupings imposed by society (which is why i am opposed to
hiring or disqualifying from hiring based on race, gender, etc.).

i do agree that one must get one's foot in the door somewhere and lack
of museum experience shouldn't necessarily be a detriment (i'd prefer
working with someone with drive and enthusiasm to someone lacking
these but having museum experience).

as i said above, and as your post implies, we must avoid confusing the
terms "qualified" and "experienced."

however, at the risk of digressing:  my own (pessimistic view) (based
on what i'm personally seeing more and more, and based on the the
many job descriptions posted on MUSEUM-L for internship positions) is
that "getting one's foot in the door" means a lot more responsibility than it
used to. the money just doesn't seem to be there to hire competent,
qualified AND experienced people for regular staff positions, so interns
and volunteers are being used more and more in their places.

i'm seeing far too many internships at very low rates of pay being posted
that call for candidates to have the abilities to design database systems,
supervise volunteers, write grants, work out budgets, etc.  five years
ago, these would have been regular staff positions!  (my fear is that in
five years they will become volunteer positions.)

how my digression relates to this issue is that given that the typical
internship position is beginning to require more and more previously
gained expertise, i don't have much hope that those who are not
specialists of some sort or other will find many opportunities as museum
interns unless museums create positions specifically for them.

that is, if you want to hire minorities or women of specific backgrounds
without prior museum experience, you are going to have to create
positions where being a minority or woman of a specific background IS a
field of expertise in itself. (i.e., as intern/consultants for specific exhibits,
etc.)

it's sad that, since there seems to be no middle ground, museums seem
to be either hiring "interns" (at next-to-nothing pay) who are in reality
qualified to be regular staff, or they are hiring people perfectly qualified
to be interns to do work beyond their skills.

-- please read the text before responding publicly. i do not respond to
unsolicited email. kjk