What is the "best" way to improve one's job
possibilities?  Extensive volunteer experience?  A
wider range of degrees?  
(I'm currently completing an MA in my subject, and
have pondered the idea of an MLS, or an MA in Museum
Studies, or Public History, or Historic Preservation,
or something. Would something of this nature help
provide more/different job oppotunities, or just
provide more debt?)  

Thanks for the great discussion on this subject!
Kaia

--- Deborah Barlow Smedstad <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> "In addition to lower than expected salaries, I've
> also known graduate 
> students who didn't think they had to have any
> experience to get a job.
> In 
> fact, they expected upon graduation to walk right
> into a director's job 
> because they have a master's degree in museum
> studies.  And the few that
> did 
> "luck into" such a job ended up leaving the field
> within a year, because
> 
> reality didn't match classroom teachings."
> 
> 
> I've never responded to a post on this list, but
> this one caught my eye.
> 
> In my experience of the last ten years, I have come
> to the conclusion
> that this is what I call "Gen X arrogance" is a
> generational thing.  I
> encountered the very same thing with several recent
> MLS graduates in
> that age group.  I had several 'interns' who thought
> they should be able
> to step right into a museum or art library director
> position right out
> of graduate school.  Needless to say, this didn't
> sit too well with
> those of us in the baby boomer generation who worked
> for paltry salaries
> for 10 years or more before getting that coveted yet
> still low-paying
> head position.  I had one intern about ten years ago
> tell me that he
> wasn't happy with his starting salary of $36,500
> annually for a two-year
> internship he was taking.  The rest of us raised our
> eyebrows and
> concluded that he was in for a rude awakening down
> the line.
> 
> I don't gripe that much about my salary since "I" am
> the only one
> responsible for it.  I didn't go into the field with
> blinders on.  I
> 'did' choose to get my MLS after my MA and it was
> the best decision for
> me.  I figured out the 'reality' of the jobs in the
> museum field and
> walked across the park to apply for that MLS.  
> 
> I tell people interested in the art library field
> that the current
> demographics are actually in their favor since many
> library directors
> will retire in the next 5-10 years.  There has in
> fact been turnover
> that did not exist in 1985 when I was trying to get
> my foot in the door.
> 
> 
> Debbie
> 
> Deborah Barlow Smedstad
> Head Librarian
> William Morris Hunt Memorial Library
> Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
> 465 Huntington Avenue
> Boston, MA  02115
> [log in to unmask]
> (617)369-3107
> 
>
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