Dear Mr. Sisley:

I did several museum internships (in American museums) and enjoyed them
immensely.  I learned a lot.  I also did a some general clerical work and
some xeroxing, but that was part of the package.  Regular museum staff also
did this type of work.  However, I wasn't asked to copy, file, type, or do
any other clerical work unless it related to the museum project with which
I was engaged.  I do feel bad for interns who in good faith, sign up to
help with, and learn something substantial in the museum field, and end up
spending an inordinate time at the copier or fax machine.  I think for
someone to have a good internship experience, the internship scope, duties,
and goals need to be spelled out clearly in an agreement signed by both
parties.

Basically, all the work I did as an intern, including clerical work, has
helped me in my career in some way or another.

Arlyn Danielson

----------
From:   Alan Sisley[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Thursday, August 07, 1997 5:16 PM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: Internships - what to do?

I have seen a number of threads relating to internships on this list in
the past four or five months, most of which seemed to be ex interns
complaining of the  way they were treated in American museums.

Internships are a fairly new development in smaller Australian museums
such as our own, only recently have the academic bodies given us the
necessary accreditation.

A potential intern doing a masters approached me today to ask what she
might do...my immediate reaction was to load all of those things on to
her that the permanent staff  did not have the time or the inclination
to do....but then I thought - no, that is what the interns on Museum-L
complain about.

So, would kind list members please advise me of "best of all possible
worlds" solutions to my intern's query - what could she do that would
both benefit her studies of museology, and also benefit this
contemporary art museum?

Alan Sisley
Orange Regional Gallery
New South Wales
Australia