I have been waiting to jump into this dialog on volunteering, waiting
to see if someone else would address the concept as volunteers as
necessary part of a vital community-based museum. I realize that this
a little different from the issue of fledgling museum folks working in
museums but some of my points are relavent for this situation, and
even for life!

 I worked with an ALL volunteer staff for thirteen years.  I started
out thinking that "we had" to use volunteers due to a small budget.
Experience taught me that as this institution evolved, the volunteers
were essential to who we were. I have a cadre of very involved, very
committed and, now, experienced volunteers.  They are considered
staff.  In fact they (the volunteers) are concerned that when the our
Board or Director talks about hiring more paid staff, that the nature
of the institution will change--for the worse.

We talk about life-long learning, we talk about involving more people
in process as key to understanding, we talk about making our
institutions vital elements of our communities.  Well folks, this is
how these practices become part of our operations--through volunteers.
Maybe your institution won't be the one you have with an all paid
professional staff, but it still can do good work.  Best of all, the
community will perceive it as THEIR museum.

Now I admit, I am in a small, local history museum.  However, to some
degree all us have need to become more community based-it is our
future.

I myself volunteer 2-8 hours a week doing something I love, but not
something I want to be my vocation.  Its healthy and fun to volunteer.

I also started by museum career as a volunteer in a museum, and
learned enough to know it was what I wanted for a career, and I did
good work for them. Volunteers, including budding museum
professionals get as good as they give. In fact, that is true for all
parts of life...

Laura Quackenbush
Curator

--
Leelanau Historical Museum € <[log in to unmask]>€
http://www.leelanau.com/leemuse/
203 E. Cedar St. - PO Box 246 - Leland, MI 49654 - 616-256-7475

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

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ museum-l.html. 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).