Comparison and contrast of museum and library work

¶ … Museum and Library Work

The objective of this work is to compare and contrast the work in a library vs. The work in a museum. This work will demonstrate an understanding of the difference and similarities with an equivalent aspect of libraries and museums as well as an understanding of the differences and similarities with equivalent practices of librarianship.

Work in the library and museum while similar, have different processes and methods used in recording inventory. While there are fewer positions available for employment than in the past two decades those who are employed in museums have a broader range of opportunities than previously.

COMPARISON of FUNCTIONS: MUSEUM vs. LIBRARY

The definition for cataloguing from the aspect of the museum is stated to be: "The compilation and maintenance of primary information by systematically describing objects in the collection, and the arranging of this information into an object catalog record." (Patch, 2004) in contrast, the library definition for cataloguing is stated to be: "The process of creating a record for each library item so that it may be found by various access points. During a cataloguing process an appropriate call number is assigned to each item." (Patch, 2004)

II. The MUSEUM

Individuals who are curators of museums are responsible for overseeing not only the permanent collections housed in the museum but are also responsible for new acquisitions. These individuals are many times specialists in "...particular media, eras, or locations." (Nich, 2008) as well, the museum curator must be able to work as a team with others to make choices about displays and exhibition as well as in developing guidebooks and information plagues. The museum curator's job includes a close working relationship with the Board of Trustees as well as the museum staff and must be capable of facilitating communication between these two groups. Museum curators are responsible for writing grants and initiating activities for fund-raising. For those who work in the museum as Archivists, job responsibilities include cataloguing, analyzing, exhibitions, and maintenance of objects of value and collections benefiting the public and researchers. Archivists "handle art, transcripts of meetings, photographs, films, video and sound recordings, computer tapes, video and optical disks, coins and stamps, living and preserved plants and animals, and historic buildings and sites that are retained because of their importance and potential value in the future." (Nich, 2008) Archivist work for various organizations including "government agencies, museums, historical societies, corporations, and educational institutions that use or generate records of great potential value to researchers, exhibitors, genealogists, and others who would benefit from having access to original source material." (Nich, 2008) Individuals who are employed by the museum as Conservators and Museum Technicians work in preservation and restoration of painting that are damaged or faded and are also capable of prevention and repair of deterioration to other artifacts. Other jobs of the museum are Arts Educators who work designing and arranging "lecture, classes, workshops, tours, and outreach programs for community and school groups." (Nich, 2008) the Museum Cataloguer, or 'Curatorial Cataloguer', has the essential functions of: (1) maintaining current cataloguing of curatorial collections in accordance with adopted professional guidelines and creates location records for all newly catalogued items and monitors location changes for those items; (2)systematically addressed backlog of cataloguing and consults with appropriate departmental staff; and (3) liaisons, develops, coordinates and maintains relationship with external and internal constituencies. (Patch, 2004) the Museum Registrar holds the responsibilities of development and enforcement of the museum's collection policies and procedures as well as for the preservation, protection and transportation of works of art that belong to the permanent collection of the museum as well as works of art on loan and traveling exhibits. The Registrar is further responsible for the computerized collection management system, legal documents, and files associated with acquisitions, condition reports, accessioning, cataloguing, loans, packing, shipping, inventory, insurance and storage. (Patch, 2004)

III. The LIBRARY

Librarians generally focus on one of three aspects of work in the library, which include: (1) user services; (2) technical services; and (3) administrative services. Librarians utilize the most recent information technology for conducting research, classification of materials, and assisting students and patrons in their search for information. Librarians must have a broad range of knowledge relating to scholarly and public information sources and "must follow trends related to publishing, computers, and the media in order to oversee the selection and organization of library materials." (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008) Responsibilities of the librarian include management of staff and development and direction of "...information programs and system for the public" (U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2008) and are responsible for ensuring that information is organized to meet the needs of the user.

IV. NEW DEVELOPMENTS MESH FUNCTIONS of MUSEUM and LIBRARY

The work of Bishoff (2000) entitled: "Interoperability and Standards in a Museum/Library Collaborative: The Colorado Digitization Project" relates that this project is "...a collaborative initiative involving Colorado's archives, historical societies, libraries and museums." (Bishoff, 2000) the goal of this project is to "increase access to the special collections and unique resources of the cultural heritage institutions through digitization." (Bishoff, 2000) it is related that this project discovered the differential standards and levels of adoption existing among cultural heritage institutions, which made a requirements of "new types of networked organizations..." that would be characterized by adaptability and highly efficient flow of information as well as "...economies of mutual rather than functional support." (Bishoff, 2000) the project reports findings that had they "...developed standards with one group and then dictated that they be used by all other institutions..." (Bishoff, 2000)...that the project would not have been successful