Anne, if you continue to work in museums as a collections manager or curator, you will not be able to provide appraisals to donors or potential donors. It will help help you know the value of your museum's items for insurance purposes and aid in your own identification of artifacts. I would say, unless you are going to pursue appraising as a career and not work at a museum, I would not take the course. -----Original Message----- From: Anne Letkeman <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thu, Jul 23, 2009 11:48 am Subject: Advice on appraising courses I am a young museum professional with a master’s degree in museum studies. I have been working now as a collections specialist managing the collections of three historic houses for about two years. I am looking into taking an appraising course offered by the International Society of Appraisers. It is an expensive course, and I am wondering if it is worthwhile. Will it make me more appealing to future employers? Will it help my career as a collections manager if I have knowledge of appraising? Or would it lessen my credibility as collections manager? Any advice would be helpful. You can respond to me on or off list. Thanks. Anne Letkeman Collections Specialist City of Roswell Roswell, GA 30075 [log in to unmask] ========================3D================================ Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).