Last week I asked the list about access of volunteers to collections.  Thanks
to Patricia Miller of the Illinois Heritage Association, Adrienne DeArmas of
the Historical Society of Washington, DC, Robin Toulouse of the Children's
Museum of Indianapolis, and Ryan Judd of the Shedd Aquarium.  Without a doubt,
museums rely on volunteers extensively.  Several mentioned volunteers who know
the collections incredibly well, sometimes better than staff.  In one case
access is provided with a picture id and/or electronic/magnetic card, for which
a driver's license must be traded in its place temporarily. Everyone noted all
volunteers have some supervision but without them nothing would get done.

The insight into this isse was valuable and now I wonder if it is more usual
than not to have no policy in place regarding access of volunteers to
collections and storage.  Can anyone shed light on this?  Is writing a policy
more the purview of the collections manager or volunteer manager?  Anyone
willing to share their policy in more detail?  Any art museums want to respond?

Again, I'll post a general summary if this is too sensitive to discuss in the
list's open forum although I'm sure several list members are interested.

Tania Said
M.A. in museum studies candidate
and Corporation for National Service Fellow

Tania Said & Steven Schuler
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