Hi Janice,
I noticed your call for presenters on the topic of volunteers doing the work of staff members. I have had two retiree volunteers for several years who basically do the same work as a curator. One has extensive knowledge of numismatics and has curated a new permanent exhibition featuring parts of our currency collection. He has also handled reference questions and given presentations. He has also connected me to local groups that have supported our museum. He has been with us for about 8 years now. I don't think I would have even taken on the new exhibit without the expertise he brings.
The other volunteer started out as a researcher, but he is now co-curating our temporary exhibitions. He has been here for about 4 years.
I have to call on both of them to do the less engaging, tedious tasks from time to time, but I think both stay engaged because of the more challenging, high level of work they are asked to do most of the time. Of course there can be problems when you are working with confident people who have retired from successful careers and they may not understand why we ask them to do things a certain way. On the plus side, it's good to have their perspectives as they represent much of our audience. I have a staff of two (me and the assistant keeper) so the right kind of volunteers are essential.
I can also speak to the frustrations of dealing with volunteers, such as other staff who volunteer to help with exhibitions but need to be badgered to finish the work. As I'm not their supervisor and they are not required to do this work as part of their job, I feel limited in what I can do.
I'm sure you'll have a lot of responses to your call, but please let me know if you would like to hear more about my experience with volunteers.
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Linda Jacobson
Keeper
North Carolina Collection Gallery
Chapel Hill NC
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-17-2018 05:28 PM
From: Janice Klein
Subject: Small Museum Session for 2019 AAM Annual Meeting
One of the defining characteristics of small museums is that we use employ volunteers in staff functions. We are working on a session proposal for the 2019 AAM Annual Meeting that focuses on this issue, exploring both the challenges and rewards.
Some of the topics we will be including are:
- training, supervision and management
- accountability
- recruitment and retention
- dual roles of Board Members (as Board and volunteers)
At this point, we are looking for
(1) Additional issues that need to be addresse
(2) Speakers who are interested/willing/able to attend the AAM Annual Meeting in New Orleans, May 19-22, 2019
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Janice Klein
EightSixSix Consulting
Small Museum Administrators Committee Board member