In a message dated 01-02-28 12:26:00 EST, John Martinson writes:

<< Providing "I don't know" answers or "write us about it ~~ later" seems like
 an "unlearning"
 situation, if not a bit distasteful to me and unprofessional, and surely not
 something
 a "center of learning" (if that is one of the classifications or definitions
 of your museum)
 should be dishing out.

 It is sad that any visitor would have to leave a museum without an answer to
 their question(s).  Most I think would simply forget about it, however, I
 think their concept of your
 museum would be tainted in the process of wanting to come back or
 recommending
 that museum to their friend(s) and family.  <and that is bad, bad PR! and
 marketing> >>

John, I don't want to drag this out either, but I think our disagreement
revolves around a really fundamental issue that's worth discussing.  Perhaps
we'll just have to agree to disagree, but I honestly think your position is
unrealistic.  Or perhaps you're anticipating easier questions than I do.
Your goals are laudable, but whether you can ever achieve them 100% of the
time is problematic.  Perhaps this is an instance of the glass-half-full vs.
the glass-half-empty perception.  Many people want their glass filled all the
time and are unhappy if it's half empty--even when there simply isn't enough
water (read: information) available to fill it.  I'm the kind of person who,
when really thirsty, can be satisfied with half a glass of water.

You can make provision and establish procedures for getting answers to
questions and you can supply your docents with FAQ sheets, but you can't
anticipate all questions.  Visitor questions can probably be divided into
three broad categories: (a) those that can be answered easily; (b) those that
are more difficult and time-consuming to answer because you don't immediately
know where the information is located or how to access it--or because the
person who knows is currently out to lunch; and (c) those for which answers
are just plain not yet known and may never be known.  I don't see anything
"unprofessional" about saying I don't know the answer to your question and I
don't know how to get the answer on the spot.  Too many people, IMHO, want
instant answers to everything.  I firmly believe that one of the
responsibilities of any "center of learning" is to convey the ineluctable
truth that some questions cannot be answered, and I frankly think you do your
visitors (and your docents) a disservice to suggest that your "center of
learning" has all the answers.  This would be an intellectually indefensible
position to assume.  You need to convey to visitors the message that your
institution is actively engaged in research and finding answers to questions.
 Any institution that considers itself a center of learning is kidding itself
and its visitors if it thinks it has arrived at completion and certitude.
You need to tell your visitors that research and the pursuit of knowledge is
an ongoing process.  It's a big job and you're not finished--and never will
be.

From a PR standpoint, I think you can turn an unanswered or unanswerable
question to your advantage.  What's wrong with a docent conveying the message
that his or her knowledge about a specific object and its history is limited?
 That there are additional layers of information available--often containing
blanks that haven't been filled in yet?  That additional information about it
may (or may not be) found in published catalogs and collection guides, or in
unpublished form in curatorial or registrarial files or databases?  That even
a more knowledgeable curator may not immediately recall the answer to a
specific question and may have to look it up?  And that sometimes that takes
time?  (If experts had instant recall and flawless memories, they wouldn't
need files and databases.)  One thing I would try to get across to docents if
I were training them would be an appreciation of how the ongoing research and
learning process is conducted in the museum and the complexities of such
information gathering so that they can effectively describe it to visitors.

I'm not talking about solving all the big problems of life and the universe
on the highest philosophical and intellectual levels.  Sometimes the most
mundane and trivial issues are elusive or unknowable.  A museum which refuses
to exhibit an object until every conceivable question about it can be
answered with certainty and completeness is destined to have very small
exhibitions.  A museum of ancient history operating on such principles would
never be able to display anything.

I suspect that the major motivation a docent might have for inventing a story
or "fact" about an object or exhibit is the uneasy feeling that it would look
"unprofessional" to be unable to answer a question on the spot.  On the
contrary, I think that the most "professional" thing you can do when faced
with a difficult question is to admit that you don't know.  And you certainly
can't expect a docent to interrupt a tour or lecture (or strand the following
tour group) to run off and try to get the answer.  If your museum has
curatorial staff standing around or on call like ER staff to rescue a baffled
docent when the questions get tough so that the inquirers can get instant
gratification, that's nice, but I suspect that that situation would be rare
in either a small museum or a large one.

I've been addressing epistemological concerns, but there are also logistical
issues.  Sometimes I spend hours of telephone tag trying to get answers to
simple questions in my own museum, such as whether or not the museum owns
such-and-such an object, whether or not the museum has other objects related
to one on display, etc., and I have to wait for an answer.  I know that
people are busy and can't drop everything to answer my question immediately,
and I don't fault them for the delay.  I live in a real world where people
are sometimes unavailable to answer my questions at a moment's notice.  I
don't expect docents to be more successful in contacting the same people or
offices for quick answers to every visitor question.

You asked:  "But, aren't museums 'centers of learning?'  For example, what if
you were attending college and your professor replied, 'I don't know...write
me a letter or email and I'll get back to you.'"  I would think that
professor was very accommodating.  What's the problem with that?  I didn't
expect my professors to have instantaneous answers to every question--why
should a docent?  I fondly hope that not all museum visitors are as impatient
and demanding as you seem to be.  If a museum visitor has unreasonable
expectations about the services we can provide or the speed with which they
can be delivered, they're not going to be happy, no matter how helpful,
polite, and tactful we try to be.  I think most visitors who seriously want
answers to their questions would be willing to expend a little extra effort
and wait for a referral, and not expect a harried docent to abandon a tour
group and dash off on a scooter to dig up the answer.  I don't intend to
worry that an impatient, unreasonable visitor's concept of our museum will be
"tainted".

David Haberstich

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