Jay Heuman Wrote:

> Matthew, Jerrie, Timothy et al.:
>
> You miss the point of a visitors charter completely!
>
> This has nothing to do with those in the safety of administrative
> hallways and collections vaults.  Those who organize exhibitions, raise
> funds, conserve artifacts, etc are safe from visitors.
>
> I am more concerned with protecting the museum and staff from
> accusations that we don't provide or do enough for our visitors.  I
> believe we do plenty.  So, think of visitor services as the equivalent
> of customer service in stores.  When someone has a complaint, it would
> be helpful to have prepared text indicating what is and is not within a
> museum's standards of service.  (It would be wonderful to have this
> available for distribution to angry visitors, to include it in
> brochures, to post it on web sites, etc.)  After all, it's funny that
> visitors expect the world, and yet front-line staff hear only the
> criticisms.


Okay, I'll admit it. I completely misunderstood what was meant by a
visitor's charter, and from a quick reread of past responses on this thread
I would say we all did. I interpreted, from my understanding of the phrase
visitor's charter as well as the context of posts that preceded mine, that a
visitor's charter was more akin to a "Museum Visitor's Bill of Rights"
similar to the currently being debated (possibly passed, I have lost track
of the issue) "Patient's Bill of Rights" in Congress, or the American Bill
of Rights which serve as the first 10 amendments to our constitution. That
so many of us suffered under this misapprehension for so long suggests to me
that the issue was poorly phrased when it was broached and we all suffered
from a lack of a generally accepted use of the phrase. When the topic was
originally brought up it was phrased thusly in a post dated January 20 and
repeated verbatim a week or so ago. The subject was ""Visitor Charter" (or
"Rights")" :


Begin Quote

Hello All!


I am considering posting a "Visitor Charter" (or "Rights") on our web
site.  However, I have several questions:


(1) Is this a uniquely British phenomenon?  Or do North American museums
have similar charters?
(2) If so, what visitor rights and services might be "promised"?
(3) If your museum has one, do you think it is beneficial?  Has it
helped satisfy visitors who were dissatisfied?


If you have not seen such policies before, I include some examples --
two from Australia and three from the UK -- that I discovered on the
web.


Customer Service Charter, Australian National Maritime Museum
    http://www.anmm.gov.au/customer.htm


National Museum of Australia -- Draft Service Charter
    http://www.nma.gov.au/aboutus/nmaservice.htm


Service Charter -- Museums and Galleries, Tameside Metropolitan Borough
(near Manchester, UK)
    http://www.tameside.gov.uk/corpgen/new/charters/museums1.htm


National Museum of Science & Industry (London, UK)
    http://www.nmsi.ac.uk/visitors/charter.htm


National Museum of Photography, Film & Television (Bradford, UK)
    http://www.nmpft.org.uk/visitor/charter.asp


Thank you in advance for any answers shared amongst the group . . .


Sincerely,
Jay Heuman, Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator
Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68102
342-3300 (telephone)     342-2376 (fax)
http://www.joslyn.org

End quote.

I don't think that those of us who assumed you meant a "Bill of Rights" to
serve as protection for the visitor were incorrect in assuming that is what
was meant in this post. Although it does ask if this has helped satisfy
visitors who were dissatisfied, no where in the post, by my reading, does it
say how it would be used. The entire post seems to imply a charter would be
used to delineate what "rights" (your word) a visitor would have NOT what
limits that would place on what the visitor has a right to expect or what
behavior would be expected of the visitor. And, after following the links
provided I feel reinforced in this interpretation. None of them dealt with
"...protecting the museum and staff from accusations that we don't provide
or do enough for our visitors." The only two related quotes I found were
"Visitors will mind themselves" and a couple of lines in a couple of the
sites telling visitors they should provide ample feedback to be served
better.

If there were misunderstandings as to what a visitor's charter is/was/will
be/could be/should be it started with the original post and continued with
people not sharing an understanding of what was meant and not recognizing in
time to clear it up before things got heated. I'll take my share of the
blame, but only my share.

The truly ironic thing is, if I had realized what was meant everyone would
have found out I agreed with it more than people think. Although I still
don't agree with framing the issue in terms of "rights" or "charters" I
agree that we should be more explicit to all types of visitors that their
enjoyment and productive use of the museum, in addition to the museum's
continued existence, depends upon a civilized and prudent use of the
facilities.

After reading the charters at the links  provided I would also say that most
museums already provide much of this information, but it is provided under
other titles and in other forms than "charters."



Now to the other things Mr. Heumann's post  had to say concerning my
character, experience, attitude, and  professional deportment:

I started this part of my post with a point by point rebuttal of the types
of assumptions Mr. Heumann post seemed to make concerning what I do, how I
do it, what experience I have doing it, and what amenities my museums do and
do not offer. But then I erased all of it for the simple reason that none of
it matters.  It doesn't matter that I have over 20 years of experience in
customer and visitor service. It doesn't matter that I have over 10 years
experience in Museum Education giving tours, working front desks,
supervising parties, and supervising and training over a 100 people in that
time to do the same.  It doesn't matter how much vomit I have cleaned out of
my clothes or urine and defecation off of floors from drunken visitors or
how many couples I have caught fornicating in recessed corners or how much
verbal and physical abuse I have taken at various rental functions I have
worked over the last 8 years at four different institutions. And it doesn't
matter that I work every work day of my life with the public in an
institution that has plenty of amenities and a visitorship that is growing
exponentially since we opened less than a year ago. None of this matters
because this is a place for reasoned discussion and debate. Who each of us
may or may not be is important only in so far as it contributes to the
content of our posts.

Mr. Heumann doesn't know anything about me. I don't know anything about him.
Most of us on Museum-L know very little, if anything, about each other other
than the posts we read on the list. For any of us to make assumptions or
level personal or professional attacks on each other based upon what we
write is wrong. The big fancy word for that in philosophy is ad hominem. At
the man. (pardon my gender-centricism, I didn't coin the phrase) It is a
logical fallacy and it means to attack the person when debating issues. If
people have problems with what each other writes in a post, than keep your
comments to the content of the post. If you have a question about the
experience, knowledge, credentials, or what-not of a poster you should ask.
What my experience may or may not be has nothing to do with the logic and
structure of my argument. Nor is the fact that I am short, going bald, and
like the color purple.

Mr. Heumann, if you have a problem with content, structure, support, logic,
syntax, or even the spelling and grammar of something I write, argue against
the post all you want. In fact this would be a poor arena of discussion if
we didn't, and I for one learn more from those people who disagree with me
than those who agree. (Nothing brightens my day more than to be shown an
issue in a different context or light.) However, if you think my
experiences, education, and ethics are relevant to a particular thread, give
me the dignity of asking me. To make an assumption about me, my professional
experience, and my customer service acumen solely because you feel you have
been misunderstood or you disagree with me, is an assumption made in
ignorance and does nothing to support your argument or point of view. Note
that I refer to the assumption as ignorant, not the person. A person can say
or write an idiotic thing and not be an idiot. A person can also say and
write and sagacious thing and not be a sage.

Now can we get on with discussing the issues raised and not each other's
professional credentials?


--
Matthew White
Director of Museums
Mount Washington Observatory
www.mountwashington.org


Jay Heuman Wrote:

> Matthew, Jerrie, Timothy et al.:
>
> You miss the point of a visitors charter completely!
>
> This has nothing to do with those in the safety of administrative
> hallways and collections vaults.  Those who organize exhibitions, raise
> funds, conserve artifacts, etc are safe from visitors.
>
> I am more concerned with protecting the museum and staff from
> accusations that we don't provide or do enough for our visitors.  I
> believe we do plenty.  So, think of visitor services as the equivalent
> of customer service in stores.  When someone has a complaint, it would
> be helpful to have prepared text indicating what is and is not within a
> museum's standards of service.  (It would be wonderful to have this
> available for distribution to angry visitors, to include it in
> brochures, to post it on web sites, etc.)  After all, it's funny that
> visitors expect the world, and yet front-line staff hear only the
> criticisms.
>
> Imagine receiving criticism about that over which you have no control
> because Director of Museums (Matthew), Curator of Collections (Jerrie),
> or Registrar (Timothy) made those decisions and left you to deal with
> thousands of unhappy visitors!
>
> Try looking at this issue of visitors charters from your front-line
> staffs' perspective.  A visitors charter -- IMHO -- has little (if
> anything) to do with the museum's employees -- other than be a guideline
> of reasonable limits for front-line staff.  There is no reason, I
> suppose, why an employee handbook cannot be gleaned for ideas (and text)
> for a visitors charter.
>
> Matthew White wrote:
>
>> Visitor service is not rocket science or even political science.
>
> Thanks.  It's nice to know my profession is so highly respected.
> Without someone dealing with the public, there would be havoc.  Clearly,
> that would be a disaster.  I presume it's been a while, Matthew, since
> you've had to deal with a ranting & raving parent who are unhappy about
> "pornography," teachers who are unhappy they cannot get a docent without
> having reserved one at least two weeks in advance, moody brides and
> grooms who are unhappy the events coordinator is not in when they "just
> popped in to clarify some contractual details," or someone who doesn't
> feel he/she should have to pay admission to eat in the cafe which is an
> 'amenity' -- not an 'independent restaurant'?
>
> (Or, another possible explanation for your "laisez faire" attitude
> toward visitor services -- perhaps your facility does not have such a
> variety of amenities/services in which case you may not prize visitor
> services as much as other institutions?)
>
>> We know what needs to be done and there are some fine books,
>> workshops, etc. If your institution takes it seriously, you don't need
>> a Visitor's Charter to tell you what to do. If your institution does
>> not, I cannot see how a visitor's charter will change that. Like I
>> said, it all sounds reasonable and righteous in theory, but I just
>> don't see it truly helping in those institutions that truly need it.
>
> Again, this has little (if anything) to do with internal uses and more
> to do with external uses.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Jay Heuman, Visitor & Volunteer Services Coordinator
> Joslyn Art Museum, 2200 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68102
> 342-3300 (telephone)     342-2376 (fax)
> http://www.joslyn.org
>
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