Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Bleeding a Turnip
In the VAM office we tend to get the phone calls and emails early when news breaks about layoffs in the museum world. The news is always unwelcome, and sometimes heartbreaking, and we do what we can to help. But no words have affected me like the following from the recent press coverage of the loss of 5 positions at the Taubman Museum of Art:
“(Board President John) Williamson said the staff cuts and other adjustments would save about $370,000 annually. He said there is no plan to cut services or programs.”
In the rush to reassure the community that nothing will change, what other message does it send? How can you cut five positions out of 33 with absolutely no effect on programs and services? I do not have all of the details of the Taubman situation and perhaps this was an overstatement or misquote; but we all know that in general it is possible only if the remaining staff absorb the duties of the fired staff. This is what museums routinely do in this situation. It is not the fault of the museum director; as my mother used to say “you can’t get blood out of a turnip” and the work still needs to be done.
But what the general public reads into that statement is “they must have had a lot of extra people they didn’t really need.” This is a great disservice to all museum staff who work hard and are proud of what they do. It also exacerbates the stress of those staff who remain and must now find extra hours in the day to do someone else’s job in addition to their own. If the work doesn’t suffer, then surely one’s health and family life will. Something has got to give.
The Virginia Association of Museums has been asked by the American Association of Museums to participate in a multi-phase planning process for the reinvention of the Accreditation Program. The results will help determine how AAM can best go about comprehensively reinventing the accreditation program into something that is more effective, efficient, valuable, and relevant to the field. I would like to see some guidelines on human resource management addressed in the new accreditation standards. What would you like to see?
We want to hear from you what you feel are the issues before the museum industry and how they relate to accreditation. Please feel free to write me at mcarlock@vamuseums.org. VAM’s Council members will also be gathering input at the VAM booth during the annual conference in Virginia Beach March 22-24.
It is a remarkable step that AAM is taking to re-engineer the accreditation process and requirements based on input from the field. It is now our obligation to provide that input.
“(Board President John) Williamson said the staff cuts and other adjustments would save about $370,000 annually. He said there is no plan to cut services or programs.”
In the rush to reassure the community that nothing will change, what other message does it send? How can you cut five positions out of 33 with absolutely no effect on programs and services? I do not have all of the details of the Taubman situation and perhaps this was an overstatement or misquote; but we all know that in general it is possible only if the remaining staff absorb the duties of the fired staff. This is what museums routinely do in this situation. It is not the fault of the museum director; as my mother used to say “you can’t get blood out of a turnip” and the work still needs to be done.
But what the general public reads into that statement is “they must have had a lot of extra people they didn’t really need.” This is a great disservice to all museum staff who work hard and are proud of what they do. It also exacerbates the stress of those staff who remain and must now find extra hours in the day to do someone else’s job in addition to their own. If the work doesn’t suffer, then surely one’s health and family life will. Something has got to give.
The Virginia Association of Museums has been asked by the American Association of Museums to participate in a multi-phase planning process for the reinvention of the Accreditation Program. The results will help determine how AAM can best go about comprehensively reinventing the accreditation program into something that is more effective, efficient, valuable, and relevant to the field. I would like to see some guidelines on human resource management addressed in the new accreditation standards. What would you like to see?
We want to hear from you what you feel are the issues before the museum industry and how they relate to accreditation. Please feel free to write me at mcarlock@vamuseums.org. VAM’s Council members will also be gathering input at the VAM booth during the annual conference in Virginia Beach March 22-24.
It is a remarkable step that AAM is taking to re-engineer the accreditation process and requirements based on input from the field. It is now our obligation to provide that input.
Friday, March 6, 2009
What Museum Stores Need to Know about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008
If your museum has a gift shop, you need to know something about the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008.
Read the Act here.
Read more about how it may affect you.
If you have any comments about how this has affected your museum's gift shop, or advice for other museums on this issue, we'd love to hear from you!
Read the Act here.
Read more about how it may affect you.
If you have any comments about how this has affected your museum's gift shop, or advice for other museums on this issue, we'd love to hear from you!
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