[Nhcoll-l] [KU SUSPECT SPAM] Re: [EXTERN] Re: Collection management: trade or profession?

Bentley, Andrew Charles abentley at ku.edu
Fri Feb 23 14:22:27 EST 2024


A Museum Studies Master’s degree is exactly that.  Provides a theoretical and practical basis for collection management.  This is however only one route into collection management.

Its is also safe to say that the “profession” of collection management has changed dramatically over the last 15-20 years with a lot of emphasis on digital skills – databases, digitization, data manipulation, imaging, data publishing, etc. – skills that require a high level of competency and training.

Andy
    A  :             A  :             A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
    V                V                V
Andy Bentley
Ichthyology Collection Manager
University of Kansas
Biodiversity Institute
Dyche Hall
1345 Jayhawk Boulevard<x-apple-data-detectors://9/>
Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561<x-apple-data-detectors://9/>
USA<x-apple-data-detectors://9/>

Tel: (785) 864-3863<tel:%28785%29%20864-3863>
Fax: (785) 864-5335<tel:%28785%29%20864-5335>
Email: abentley at ku.edu<mailto:abentley at ku.edu>
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3093-1258
http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu<http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu/>
    A  :             A  :             A  :
 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°>
    V                V                V

From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> On Behalf Of Liath Appleton
Sent: Friday, February 23, 2024 12:00 PM
To: Dirk Neumann <d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>
Cc: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: [KU SUSPECT SPAM] Re: [Nhcoll-l] [EXTERN] Re: Collection management: trade or profession?

Librarians are very similar to Collections Managers. How are Librarians classified? In the US, qualifications vary, but I think most positions require a master's degree in Library Sciences. That is not an option for Collections Managers, at least not yet.

On Fri, Feb 23, 2024 at 11:54 AM Dirk Neumann <d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de<mailto:d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>> wrote:
aha - more details to answer the question.
Payment-wise, there is a difference at least in Germany:

A profound technical educated BTA would receive a higher payment level then a biology bachelor that did not continue to complete the masters degree. The same applies for good amateurs (e.g. in entomology), which often are highly, skilled, but do not have the 'technical education' that would lift them onto a higher payment level.

The payment level for a researcher in Germany is E13 (curator), that of an BTA is E9, and that of a bachelor or amateur may start at E6 or E8.
A professional (master) gardener in a botanic garden however may start at E5 or E6, even though the degree as a trade master as recognised profession is equivalent at least with a bachelor's degree at university.

Another problem that we have is that at the moment, there is no such education as 'collection manager' you could graduate from. In the US and here in Europe, there are Museum Studies programmes, but this is something different. A good starting point would be having the possibility to qualify as a proper 'collection manager' as profession. Senckenberg in Frankfurt does this. Perhaps this would be a suited example for your test case?

With best wishes
Dirk


Am 23.02.2024 um 18:40 schrieb Callomon,Paul:
ACHTUNG/ATTENTION: Diese E-Mail stammt von einem externen Absender. / This e-mail comes from an external sender.


Part of the reason for the question is to bring these words into focus. For some folks, "professional" simply means "paid," and not "amateur." That's not its actual meaning, though - there are no amateur surgeons or professional carpenters.

The distinction is important, because we should be thinking harder about creating more pathways into museum collections management. At present, the requirements and compensation vary so widely between individual institutions that it's impossible to  say whether this is something that someone with, say, a high school diploma or an associate's degree could aspire to. If it isn't - if to be a CM you need a master's or PhD or "equivalent" - then it's a profession, and we are likely to see the same demographic as in the other professions. At least we would, if being a CM paid like being a doctor or lawyer...


Paul Callomon
Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates

________________________________

Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia
callomon at ansp.org<mailto:callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170





________________________________
From: Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu><mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of Douglas Yanega <dyanega at gmail.com><mailto:dyanega at gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, February 23, 2024 12:31 PM
To: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu> <nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu><mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nhcoll-l] Collection management: trade or profession?


External.
On 2/23/24 8:34 AM, Callomon,Paul wrote:

  *   Is collection management a trade or a profession? What's the difference?

I imagine that most people you asked "What's the difference between a trade and a profession?" could not give a clear and coherent answer discriminating between them. If I had not seen the definitions you posted, I don't think I could have answered this question, myself, despite 25 years as a collection manager. Frankly, off the top of my head, I would have said that a profession is what you get paid to do - i.e., that's what distinguishes a professional from an amateur. In that sense, trade and profession are synonymous, since I can't imagine calling something a trade if it is not a source of income.



I'm not disputing the definitions you gave, just saying that that particular distinction is not intuitive, given the various uses of the word "professional".



Peace.

--

Doug Yanega      Dept. of Entomology       Entomology Research Museum

Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521-0314     skype: dyanega

phone: (951) 827-4315 (disclaimer: opinions are mine, not UCR's)

             https://faculty.ucr.edu/~heraty/yanega.html

  "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness

        is the true method" - Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chap. 82


_______________________________________________

Nhcoll-l mailing list

Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>

https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l



_______________________________________________

NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of

Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose

mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of

natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to

society. See http://www.spnhc.org<http://www.spnhc.org/> for membership information.

Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.


--
****

Dirk Neumann
Collection Manager, Hamburg

Postal address:
Museum of Nature Hamburg
Leibniz Institute for the Analysis
of Biodiversity Change
Dirk Neumann
Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3
20146 Hamburg
+49 40 238 317 – 628
d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de<mailto:d.neumann at leibniz-lib.de>
www.leibniz-lib.de<http://www.leibniz-lib.de/>

--
Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels
Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts;
Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Grüter (Kaufm. Geschäftsführer)
Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn
Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst

--
Stiftung Leibniz-Institut zur Analyse des Biodiversitätswandels
Postanschrift: Adenauerallee 127, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Stiftung des öffentlichen Rechts;
Generaldirektion: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Misof (Generaldirektor), Adrian Grüter (Kaufm. Geschäftsführer)
Sitz der Stiftung: Adenauerallee 160 in Bonn
Vorsitzender des Stiftungsrates: Dr. Michael Wappelhorst
_______________________________________________
Nhcoll-l mailing list
Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu<mailto:Nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu>
https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/nhcoll-l

_______________________________________________
NHCOLL-L is brought to you by the Society for the Preservation of
Natural History Collections (SPNHC), an international society whose
mission is to improve the preservation, conservation and management of
natural history collections to ensure their continuing value to
society. See http://www.spnhc.org<http://www.spnhc.org/> for membership information.
Advertising on NH-COLL-L is inappropriate.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/nhcoll-l/attachments/20240223/b6ce2ede/attachment.html>


More information about the Nhcoll-l mailing list