There are enormous differences between countries on this, and even within
them.  I guest-edited a special issue of "Museum International"
(published by UNESCO - previsously "Museum") on museum careers,
including these issues a couple of years ago: No. 180, (vol. XLV no. 4)
1993; pages 3 - 51.  My own introductory paper "Museum careers: ever
changing and ever growing" (pages 4 - 7) showed that there was above all
still a yawning gulf between countries and traditions between a view of
museum work as complex and diverse with perhaps some dozens of
distinct academic, professional, administrative, technical, clerical and
manual jobs (see for example also Jane Glaser's "Museum careers in the
United States: a non-system", pp. 18 - 21 in the same issue of
"Museum Internaational") and traditions in which museum work
is regarded as consisting of only two basic jobs, what I term
the "scholar-curator" and unqualified ancilliary staff (security guards,
secretaries etc.).  For my paper I analysed the staff structures and job
titles in over 100 representative museums of different sizes in around 30
countries, and found little consistency in job title between countries,
or even internally within countries in many cases, unless there is some
sort of national legal structure defining these.  Those with such legal
structures include national and State museums in Austria, where typically
museum personnel will simply be described or referred to by what amounts
to their government salary grade, or France where all five national
grades are laid down by law, each name being a variation on the term
"conservateur" (= curator, NOT conservator).  In contrast, the
staff list analysis semed to suggest that just about everyone in
the larger museums of the USA seemed to want to be called at least
Director, if not Vice-President.

Patrick Boylan

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On Tue, 23 Jan 1996, Robert Papini wrote:
> Can anyone say:
> 1 - if there is an international consensus on museum profession
> titles (curator, collections mgr, etc.) ?
> 2 - where i could find any documentation of it ?
> Glad of any feedback. thanx.