A Particular Set of People Skills

In recent weeks I have spent more time volunteering in the welcome center than organizing and cleaning artifacts in the museum. As you might guess, time spent in the welcome center has a significant emphasis on the interacting with the public and fellow volunteers. I have always been the kind of person who can work well with anyone - regardless of different perspectives and backgrounds. During my time in the welcome center, I have seen how this personality is not only helpful in a museum setting, but likely essential. Given the very nature of a museum as a safe place of learning and critical thinking, there is a higher likelihood of visitors and volunteers alike initiating conversations about controversial political issues. I generally keep my positions and beliefs to myself about such matters and thus I choose the roll of an active listener in such conversations, but these interactions were a poignant reminder of how museums, in their effort to create a safe environment for critical thinking and civic education, make people feel more comfortable in expressing their opinions on current events and political topics. Beyond educating people about a museum's collections and resources, museum professionals who directly interact with the public need to have the temperament for such interactions and conduct themselves in such a way that visitors do not feel alienated. In short, museum professionals look for chances to educate visitors, not persuade them.

I also experienced another aspect of museum operations that is not necessarily part of every museum but is certainly common - interacting with visitors who are specifically interested in the museum as an event venue. In this instance, I simply gave a tour of the areas typically used as venue spaces and recorded contact info to convey to the museum's chief executive officer. While larger museums may have different employees to address these different guest services, it is possible that other small museums similarly consolidate responsibilities. The internship continues to be a well-rounded education in museum operations.