[NHCOLL-L:2739] Collections managers

[Paul Callomon]

As I see it, the problem is that while most curators and collections managers are pretty clear about the talents, training and experience necessary for each other's jobs - and respect each other's capacities and limitations - there are no clear guidelines for the hiring of the people above them. Administrators in museums tend to come from various backgrounds, but rarely have any experience that would have engendered in them an understanding of curation or collections management. The good ones try to learn, but the others just carry on as if they were running whatever office they previously ruled over. In my admittedly limited experience, many curators and collections managers thus find themselves on the receiving end of misguided initiatives and 'efficiency' excercises that rain down from above on a regular basis. It's the old problem - anyone smart, sensitive and educated enough to be a good museum administrator is too smart to want the job. 

PC. 

Paul Callomon
Collections Manager
Malacology, Invertebrate Paleontology and General Invertebrates
Department of Malacology
Academy of Natural Sciences
1900 Parkway, Philadelphia PA 19103-1195, USA
Tel 215-405-5096
Fax 215-299-1170
Secretary, American Malacological Society
On the web at http://erato.acnatsci.org/ams/