>I can't think of any organization that would be of use to all kinds of
staff
>in all kinds of museums.

I can--the American Association of Museums.  I resisted joining for many
years due to the cost of membership plus the need to join other professional
organizations more closely connected with what I do.  There is a budgetary
limit to how many professional organizations one can join, after all.  I
would occasionally thumb through "Museum News" in the library and think,
"there is not much here of interest to me."  However, since joining the AAM
a year ago, I have become a regular reader of "Museum News" and "Aviso", I
attended part of the St. Louis meeting, and I have taken advantage of the
AAM bookstore.  It has become clear to me that the AAM is a tremendous
professional resource for anyone who is a museum professional (or museum
studies student).  I discovered that there was a lot more of interest to me
in "Museum News" that I had thought.

A former director of mine (reflecting a fairly typical natural history
museum attitude) used to say, "So what does the AAM do for natural history
museums?"  I can now answer that question--the same thing they do for any
other kind of museum, which is to provide resources and a means of
communication of ideas for museum professionals.

And no, AAM did not pay me to say this (but if they would like to send me a
check I will accept it).

--John

John E. Simmons
Collection Manager, Natural History Museum
and
Coordinator, Historical Administration and Museum Studies Program
University of Kansas
Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard
Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7561
Phone 785-864-4508
FAX 785-864-5335
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