In view of the number of enquiries on the list about basic curatorial
information and bibliographies, it might be worth drawing attention to the
_Manual of Curatorship_ published by the Museums Association (UK) and
Butterworth-Heinemann.

In its 756 pages it provides a good foundation and bibliographies on such
diverse matters as the history of museums, museum retailing, volunteer
management, the conservation of different materials, collection research in the
different disciplines, museum education and much else.  The availability of this
in university and college libraries would be of great help to such enquirers. No
doubt there are other key texts that could also be recommended.

The details are:
Thompson, J M A et al (eds), _Manual of Curatorship: a Guide to Museum
Practice_, Butterworth-Heinemann (second edition, 1992)

Geoffrey Lewis