At English Heritage we changed the uniforms of our guards (known as
"custodians" from a security guard style to a more user friendly style
10 years ago. The change was very well received by the visitors. Since
then we have been increasing the customer service role of the custodians
steadily.  However I should say that most of our locations are historic
sites and not museums, and often the custodians are the only staff on
site and have to see tickets, carry out security duties and indeed do
everything else.  At those sites where our custodians do carry out
the traditional museum guard role, they are now expected to answer
questions and assist the public while at the same time carrying out a
security role.
 
In general my impression is that this approach is more common in the UK
than in the USA.  In the UK the gallery guard as purely a security person
is becoming a thing of the past, although there are often more traditional
guards at entrances. The exceptions seem to be Art Galleries (ie Art Museums)
where the guards remain guards (possibly this is a difference in attitude
between Art Curators and History/Archaeology/Natural History curators - see
also the amount of labeling!)
 
--
Trevor Reynolds
Registrar
English Heritage