Ooohwee, that's a classical class of agendas.

Well, the word "docent" comes from the Latin "docere" meaning "to teach."  I
at first imagined that your docents were largely tour guides.  I see that at
your organization they do a variety of volunteer functions.

It seems to me that you are probably training them correctly.  Since you are
a historical society, however, being well informed about the history of the
city and region is probably important, and a good theme for continuing
education when they meet.  Perhaps some of your more academically inclined
docents could also develop fact sheets or write short essays (all subject to
education and curatorial approval of course) to be kept in notebooks that
would be convenient to hand for docents to use in answering questions, or
visitors to leaf through.  Other docents might be helpful in providing
information about local restaurants, shopping, children's resources and
whatnot, also for the notebook.

I agree that developing an extremely rigorous training program might be
counterproductive.  Pruning deadwood is a perennial problem and figuring out
how to get everyone operating at a minimally acceptable level a challenge.
However, requiring participation in ongoing training and creating enthusiasm
for new ideas and knowledge would be a way to improve their knowledge base
and keep them fresh.

HOWEVER.  If the issue here is that the docent group is an elite and closed
social group whose members are vetted by your board, this is another matter
entirely.  Newcomers are potentially the motherlode of resources.  They are
interested in becoming part of the community, they aren't burdened with a
lot of preconceived notions or hardened attitudes about the town and what
might or might not be possible for the museum, and because they are looking
for ways to belong they are likely to be very sensitive about making all
visitors feel welcome.

My inclination would be to commend the Board for their interest and
implement some kind of (obligatory) continuing education, like a monthly or
so meeting that includes presentation by staff and various guest speakers,
as well as a few printed hand outs.  And/or maybe a reading circle to
discuss recent relevant books and articles.  I would not so much acknowledge
what is unsaid as preempt it by actively reaching out to newcomers for the
support they can offer, support both financial and moral.  Get your Board at
least to pay lip service to that stance, maybe?

Ellen B. Cutler
LNB Associates: Writing, Editing, Research Services
Aberdeen, MD

----- Original Message -----
From: Issaquah Historical Society Info <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, July 03, 2001 10:00 AM
Subject: docents: do they have to be an authority?


> Hi, all,
>
> Last week I posted a query concerning open hours and I wanted to thank
> everyone who responded. The information and opinions given were very
> helpful.
>
> My question this week is - what role do you feel docents should play in
your
> museum?
>
> I feel that that the docents should be there to greet guests, point out
> features of the exhibits, answer basic questions, handle gift shop
purposes,
> and provide a public face to the museum. We offer a 4-hour training and
give
> each docent a handbook that has facility information and FAQ sections on
> both museums and the city. We explicitly tell them that they don't need to
> know everything, they just need to be enthused and know where to find
> information OR be willing to take a name and address so that we can get
back
> to them with information. We also do retrainings whenever the handbook
> changes (about once a year). Now that we have hired a volunteer
coordinator,
> we're hoping to have more activities for the docents.
>
> Several board members have expressed to me that they think our docents
need
> to know more about the history of our city in addition to basic knowledge
of
> the museum (or that we need to find docents who already know a great deal
> about the history of our city). They feel that we either need to train
them
> more or be more selective. The unspoken comment is that we are seeking out
a
> number of docents from new arrivals in town, people who have not lived
here
> for more than 3 or 4 years. At a time when we are trying to double our
open
> hours at two museums, I think that being selective about our docents might
> be tough. As far as training them more goes - I'm a little worried about
> scaring them off, but willin to train them more as soon as I figure out
how
> much they really NEED to know to be effective docents.
>
> Thoughts? Opinions?
>
> Erica S. Maniez
> Museum Director, Issaquah Historical Society
> [log in to unmask]
>
> =========================================================
> Important Subscriber Information:
>
> The Museum-L FAQ file is located at
http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed
information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message
to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help"
(without the quotes).
>
> If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to
[log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff
Museum-L" (without the quotes).

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).