Unfortunately, some people are under the impression that you can't
"fire" a volunteer, which is of course nonsense. A museum professional
has an obligation to his/her public, collections, institution's
reputation, and personal sanity to ensure that "problem" volunteers
either receive corrective training or counseling or are released.
Because volunteers are donors of their time and ability, this all needs
to be handled with great sensitivity, but there is no point in keeping a
"problem" volunteer aboard if the problem cannot be solved.

In my opinion, the biggest problem with volunteers relates to
motivation. If their sole reason for volunteering is conversation and
companionship, you are likely to have problems. On the other hand, the
biggest volunteer problem I have ever witnessed involved the opposite--a
woman who essentially was a volunteer curator for the collection she had
donated, and was so obsessed with caring for her collection--and
continuing to collect and augment it--that she wouldn't slow down long
enough to accept any training, advice, or supervision. She was such a
terror that everyone was afraid to get near her. The people who should
have been supervising her failed to do so, and after many years of staff
consternation, not to mention damage to "her" collection caused by
improper handling methods, the long-suffering staff had to go over their
supervisor's head and demand her ouster. She left with much bitterness,
an emotional wreck, and clearly the failure to remove her early on was
no favor to either her or her collection.

Theoretically, this type of horror story doesn't need to occur at a
place like the Smithsonian. Volunteer ID credentials must be renewed
periodically, so one can and should refuse to renew problem volunteers.
I think it's important to be fair and honest, however, and let people
know, tactfully, the real reasons for failure to renew them, rather than
making up transparently fictitious excuses about projects being
completed with nothing else for them to do, etc. The easy way to ensure
that problems don't occur is to make every new volunteer project
conditional and probationary. If things don't work out, don't extend
them.

Although volunteer curators working on their own donation can greatly
increase your problems, let me say that one cannot generalize about
avoiding such situations. In my office we have another volunteer who is
cataloguing and organizing a major collection which he donated, and he's
a dream volunteer--intelligent, willing to accept supervision, and
dedicated.

It's very important to keep a close eye on volunteer relationships in a
museum environment, and you must have the courage to "fire" volunteers
who don't work out. A problem volunteer is a hindrance, not a helper,
and you do them no favors to let them think they're helping if they're
not.

David Haberstich