Hi,
I am a graduate student currently in a museum studies program.  If she is very good working with people and communication she could look into administration, PR work, visitor management, registration (interaction with fellow registrars, shippers, vendors) within the museum field.

If library science, i suggest doing an internship in that too. I was interested in library science but i wanted to work with objects. if doing library science, get the MLA degree then she is not limited to just museums. I went to Pitt. Pitt has a good MLA degree program. However, for me i felt that there wasnt going to be enough interaction for me at a library or even at a museum library, or enough excitement.  Research actual MLA programs to determine if its something she might be interested in.

if she is planning on college, try out everything you can and dont set your sight on one path unless you know for sure thats what you want to do. I thought I was going to law school. took classes during undergrad to help and It didnt work out. my museum internship helped me to choose a better path for myself. The classes still helped to increase my writing and anylitical skills but I could have taken other classes.

if she is interest in the museum field, she should try to get experience in other areas of the museum that she may have interest in: development/ fundraising for example or special events. 
if she didnt like a small museum, i would then suggest getting experience in a larger museum to see if that is a better fit. Larger museums are set up and runned differently than smaller ones and employees dont have as many hats to wear like in a smaller one.

I hope this helps.

-michele
grad student

On Wed, Dec 3, 2008 at 10:34 AM, <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

We have a wonderful high school student who is finishing her internship with us this week.  Unfortunately, the biggest thing she has learned is apparently that a small museum like ours is not what she is interested in—not enough daily interaction with the public.  She is still interested in going into a museum-related field, and I would like to give her some advice, but I don't have a background in museums—mine is in research and teaching.  The closest career recommendations I could come up with for her would be to go into either library science or the antiques business.  With the strengths and weaknesses listed below, could some of you museum professionals suggest museum-related careers she might look into?

 

Strengths:  very bright, good at integrating diverse facts with things she already knows; articulate; a good writer; interested in literature and history; dependable; a helpful and reliable assistant during educational programs; likes to talk to people one-on-one; prefers a job where she has a lot of interaction with people; eyes light up when she is working with some artifacts.

 

Areas she has not shown strength or interest in:  quiet, not interested in teaching or speaking to groups; when asked to research an artifact and design a small exhibit explaining it, she conducted the research but found the exhibit design difficult and barely met the extended deadline; hand-eye coordination is only average, so I would not recommend that she specialize in cleaning or restoring artifacts; states that mathematics is not her strong point.

 

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

 

Kim Elmore

Outreach Coordinator

Gwinnett History Museum

455 S. Perry Street

Lawrenceville, GA 30045

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