In a message dated 01-02-24 09:35:35 EST, Eugene Dillenburg wrote:

<< While I, too, was disappointed to see so few responses to the request for
 visitor charters, I fear this may simply be indicative of the low regard
 many museums have for Visitor Services -- or even for visitors.  We define
 ourselves by our collections and our research, and tolerate the public as
 long as they are quiet and, well-behaved, do what we want them to do and
 learn what we want them to learn.

 Many of us joke "This would be a great place if it weren't for all the
 visitors," but much truth is spoken in that jest.  (And no, I still haven't
 tracked down the source of that quote.)  What is sadly overlooked is the
 fact that visitors are the defining characteristic of our profession.  If
 you're not open to the public, you may be a fine collections and research
 facility, but you are not a museum.  You'd think we'd pay them a little more
 attention. >>

Gene, I think I was the source of that quote, but not in a museum context.
When I was in high school and worked summers in a cafeteria, I was sometimes
annoyed by customers demanding a cup of coffee precisely when I had my hands
full, carrying a hot, heavy container of food to the steam table or perhaps
in the act of actually making the bloody coffee.  Once while I was struggling
to fill our enormous coffee urn, an impatient customer joked to his friend,
"This would be a great place to start a nice restaurant, wouldn't it?" I
retorted, "This would be a nice retaurant if it weren't for all the
customers."

But seriously, I question the generalization that many museum folks have a
low regard for visitors.  The trend is very much in the opposite direction,
it seems to me.  Sometimes people are more concerned about the body count
than the individual visitor, it's true, but most museums are bending over
backwards to entice more and more visitors.  Sometimes, in my opinion, they
do so at the peril of their collections and their availability for serious
research.  Important artifacts sometimes are shunted aside to make way for
more "popular" exhibits, making them more difficult for the serious scholar
to access.

Indeed, some museum directors feel that visitor experiences through popular
exhibits are the ONLY thing, and that collections don't need to be studied,
or that what curators and scholars do with them doesn't qualify as research.

I suppose your scenario occurs in some museums, Gene, but I see a lot of the
exact opposite happening.  I personally believe in a happy medium.

David Haberstich

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