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 ====================================================== 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.