Dear Colleagues: [indulgence coveted for cross-posting]

 

Is it unrealistic to expect that “Small museums have to do everything that large museums do" [emphasis added] as stated by American Alliance of Museums President & CEO Laura Lott stated while Introducing the yellow balloon small museum special issue of the AAM journal Museum last November?

 

For some critical analysis of the ideas associated with professional museum standards & the encouragement for small museums to pursue AAM accreditation, see the most recent 30 November post on the Solving Task Saturation for Museum Workers blog titled 'Ballooning Expectations: The Human Costs of Aspirations for Small Museum “Soaring”' at https://solvetasksaturation.wordpress.com/2019/11/30/ballooning-expectations-the-human-costs-of-aspirations-for-small-museum-soaring/ .

 

The previous blog post on 13 November 2019 provides an overview of the background of concerns among small museums in the early 1980s through 2006 regarding the impact of standards regimes on sustainability. Unrealistic expectations are not a new problem for small museums!

 

Some of the sections in the 30 November in-depth “Ballooning Expectations” piece are:

 

• Recent Acknowledgement of Overload, Stress, & Burnout in Museum Work
• Soaring Expectations for Small Museums
• Symbolic Hazards of Aspirations for Small Museums “Soaring”
• Museum Yellow Balloon Accreditation Articles Analysis:
• Resources to Run Small Museums
• Human Costs of Accreditation Standards Preparations
• Human Costs of Standards in Operation
• AAM~ Accreditation Standards Redux
• Standards Dilemma Solutions Summary

 

To sum up the solutions proposed in these 2 blog posts in one sentence, Make sure that the protection of your human resources (from task saturation, stress, & burnout) is a top priority following the AAM Code of Ethics (2000: 1; cf. International Council of Museums 2017: 6).

 

Thanks for thinking about this. 

 

Is it now time to consider taking action to ensure that museum work can be made more sustainable for its practitioners?

 

Respectfully yours

 

Paul C. Thistle

 

Solving Task Saturation for Museum Workers blog https://solvetasksaturation.wordpress.com/