Salaries will continue to be low as long as people continue to accept those positions. Quality often is not as much of a concern as budget. People start out willing to accept low pay in exchange for experience and contacts - and then it doesn't get any better! It's hard to find the middle level jobs that will compensate for that experience - museums have a never-ending supply of bright-eyed newcomers to underpay. No one expects riches. But there's no reason why museum staff should not be compensated as well as people in similar professions with similar training - libraries, schools, universities. The only solution is collective action - but that's anathema to "professionals", and so many of our jobs are a combination of "labor" and "management" so traditional union models don't apply. Somebody come up with a new paradigm quickly, before we all perish from penny-pinching! Carol Ely Virginia Discovery Museum Charlottesville *My opinions only, of course, and recognizing that museums have terrible financial problems that make it hard to do right by their staff however much they may wish in some cases.*