I agree with Craig on the point of the free transfer of information we in
the museum biz share.  I wouldn't trade it for the world!  It's
especially helpful to we grad students!

My friend who just received his MBA doesn't understand the function
of Museum-L.  "You mean people just tell each other their 'secrets'?. . ."

Toni Preston

On Fri, 6 Sep 1996, Craig d`Arcy wrote:

> Eric Siegel writes;
>
>   This Stephen Weil passage brings out the contrarian in me...
>
>    Besides being mushy on a scale right up there with Mark Helprin's
>    speech for Dole; it not only doesn't reflect my 15 years of
>    experience in the museum biz, it also is full of the "ain't we grand
>    and morally superior" tone that affects me like eating a package of
>    nutra-sweet(tm).
>
> I agree that working in museums is often a gigantic pain in the butt
> (and I do have private sector experience to compare it to) and Eric is
> right that the two biggest pains are low pay and the inability to spend
> most of our day doing what we were hired (and love) to do.
>
> You're also bang on in noting that Weil ignores those of us who are
> "sometimes bitter, trapped and alienated" despite choosing to do this
> work.  But he was accepting an award from his peers at the time!  You
> expect him to bite the hand feeding him rubber chicken?
>
> This (Weil's) passage reflects the best of what our world has to offer,
> and a spoonful of saccharine does in fact make the medicine (long hours,
> low pay, no recognition and limited opportunity for advancement) go
> down.
>
> However, Eric, I think you're missing Weil's main point here, which is
> that the collegiality of the Museum biz, as reflected here on museum-l,
> is often missing in other less altruistic trades.  As one of the most
> frequent contributors to discussion here, certainly you can't disagree
> with him on that point.  In the for-profit world, the type of
> information freely shared in this forum is jealously guarded under the
> label of "trade secrets."  If you consider that "knowledge" is the
> commodity that museums trade in, it's truly amazing that we are so
> willing to give it away for free.
>
> Regards,
>
> Craig E. d'Arcy
> Exec Director
> West Parry Sound Dsitrict Museum
>