Troy Segal wrote:

>This whole situation strikes me as so paradoxical. We need work, and you
need
>bodies. Every curator I know feels understaffed, overworked, and frustrated
>because they lack the time & manpower to accomplish all the things they'd
>like to).

Another way to look at this issue is the way in which "museums" (in the
guise of Director/President and the Board of Trustees) allocate their
resources.  It seems to me that in the (relatively) boom period of museum
funding (the 60's and 70's) money for basic museum infrastructure
(collections management and care, security, exhibits) was left standing
while special project funding (block-busters, major pr, elaborate education
activities, big new museum shops and restaurants) just took off.   The
infrastructure is getting old and needs more attention, but "museums" are
not reallocating their budgets to meet those needs.  When we are told "we
don't have the resources"  what it really means is that one project isn't as
important as another.   I was once told that in order to hire someone to
assist me in completing a federally mandated activity (upon which the
renewal of grant funding depended) "they" would have curtail an Education
Department project  and "they" didn't want to do that.  As a friend of mine
once said, "if the lights are on, they have the resources".

Janice Klein
Director
The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, Kendall College
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