Susan Patterson wrote:
 
Has anyone addressed in a formal way the role
guards can play as museum ambassadors?  Obviously guards have a
very specific duty but it is also true that they are many times
the only contact visitors have with museum personnel.  Has anyone
tried assigning guards as "greeters"; how about modifying the
uniform to a more "plain clothes" look?  Other strategies?
 
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In a previous position we considered the guard-as-guide question and ran
into several serious drawbacks.
 
 (1) A common scam used in small museum thefts is distraction (i.e., have
one person draw the guard away while another person commits the theft).
Since most museums are understaffed in the security department this is a
real threat.
 
(2) We found that most security officers lacked the basic education and
training to "interpret" exhibits, and that there were no backup persons to
hold down their duties if we were to train them as docents.
 
(3) We found that allowing them to act as tour guides or interpreters was
very seductive, and before you knew it they were guarding 10% of the time
and guiding 90% of the time.
 
(4) Part of our security consisted of civil service employees under the
same type of union structure as the local police department. We were caught
in a catch 22 situation - they wanted to act as interpreters, but the
minute we considered it we were hit with notice that they wanted additional
pay for the additional duties or would file grievences.
 
(5) We experimented with blazers instead of "gestapo" uniforms (as one
irate visitor called them). We found that blazers were better accepted by
the public on a comfort level, but the number of "incidents" (especially
with juvenile delinquents) increased because of the "degredation" of an
appearance of authority. Also, since part of the guard crew was civil
service, they objected to blazers over police uniforms.
 
We pretty much used guards as guards, but gave them a detailed orientation,
made sure that they knew who was who on staff, what they did, and what
channels to use to refer people to them. This must be carefully considered;
my philosophy (as an employee of a public vs. academic museum) was that if
a person wanted to see a staff member and would make an appointment we
would see them. Some academic museums do not have this philosophy and, to
be fair, they have different missions. We did find it difficult to make
some guards understand what was and was not important, in the end asking
them to refer all questions to a secretary for "screening."
 
I should also add that we tried to make the security people feel like part
of the team, that their job was crucial, and that what we did was fruitless
unless it stayed in the gallery space.
 
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_______________________________
 
Byron A. Johnson, Exec. Dir.
The Tampa Bay History Center
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Mail:   P.O. Box 948
        Tampa, FL  33601-0948
Phone: (813) 228-0097
FAX: (813) 223-7021