In a message dated 01-03-02 11:45:44 EST, Christopher Dill writes:

<< And I STILL think it's reasonable to try to answer visitors questions.  =
 Those of you who sarcastically say you don't have time to look up =
 information for visitors certainly seem to have time to read and respond =
 to Museum-L posts.  Odd choice of priorities, IMHO.   We may have to agree =
 to disagree on this one, as you'll never convince me I shouldn't encourage =
 my staff to try   :)))) >>

This will be my last (hurray!) and shortest (I hope) comment on this thread.

Chris, you're perfectly correct that "it's reasonable to try to answer
visitors['] questions"--I don''t believe ANYone said it wasn't.  The
operative word is "try".  Of course you should encourage your staff to try!
No one said don't try.  Although some of the responses attempted to inject
humor, I don't think anyone was trying to say, either sarcastically or
seriously, that they don't have time to look up information for visitors.
What I and others have emphasized is that it isn't always feasible to get a
question answered quickly when a docent doesn't immediately know; that
sometimes unavoidable logistical hurdles come into play to thwart either
docent or curator from providing an answer within the time that a visitor is
actually in the museum.  We objected to the blanket statement that it should
always be possible to get an answer during a museum visit.

The remark about priorities is a cheap shot.  I, for one, do all my Museum-L
dissertations, diatribes, & dithering at home, on my personal time.  I'm sure
most folks laboring over their Museum-L mailbag in a museum office would be
more than willing to postpone this activity at the drop of a hat to respond
to a visitor question.

David Haberstich

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