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Part Two, “Museum Jobs,” was especially interesting to me as a public history professional currently in the middle of the job search. Schlatter creates her chapters by identifying three categories of jobs that a museum might employ, leaving the final chapter in Part Two dedicated to “The Director.” These three categories, which make up chapters three through five, include: jobs focused on objects and/or exhibitions; jobs with a public focus; and jobs with an administrative focus. Within these categories, Schlatter has identified several specific jobs – eight each in chapters three and four, and five in chapter five.
Of particular interest to me in chapter three was the librarian/ archivist position. For each job, Schlatter offers a description; a few examples of how a real person with this job in a real museum might work; and general information about salary, education, experience, and resources where one can find job listings and professional advancement opportunities. I particularly found it helpful that Schlatter included the career ladder with her salary ranges. For example, in the Librarian/Archivist job heading, she lists salary ranges for a Librarian Assistant, Assistant Librarian, Librarian, Visual Resources Librarian, Director/ Head Librarian, Assistant Archivist, Archivist, and Chief Archivist.[1]
Throughout the book, particularly in this section, I found myself encouraged by Schlatter’s information. It is practical and no-nonsense, but not depressingly so. It is easy to be discouraged as a public history professional searching for a job. This is especially true for archives professionals when so many fellow candidates are highly qualified and so many jobs require a candidate to have an MLIS or MLS. Schlatter’s section on archivists in museums reassured me that there is room for archivists with training in public history programs, even as she cautioned readers that not all museums need or can afford a full-time library or archive.[2] I also particularly enjoyed the section on Registrar/Collections Manager, as it’s a position within museums that I regularly see postings for and know very little about.
As a public history student, I was also interested in Chapter four, “Jobs With a Public Focus,” particularly Educator/ Volunteer Manager, as so many of my colleagues have or have had this job at historic institutions, and Information Manager, as one of its alternate titles might be Digital Archivist. Much of my work experience thus far has been in establishing and curating digital archives collections. I have actually applied for two Digital Archivist jobs at museums within the past few months. Schlatter emphasizes that these are relatively new and perhaps unstable careers, although they carry a salary range that seems to be a little larger than other jobs within a museum ($35,000 to $50,000 for an Information Assistant and $70,000 to $95,000 for an Information Officer).[3] As Schlatter notes earlier in the book, however, salary ranges can vary depending on type and location of museum. In the case of one of the positions I applied for at a local museum, the high end of the salary range only slightly touched on the lower edge of the one listed here.
Part Three, Preparing For and Gaining Museum Employment, was by far the most important part of the book for me as a professional currently searching for jobs. This section of the book includes chapters on Education, Internships and Volunteering, Finding and Applying for Jobs, and Professional Development and Career Growth. The interesting aspect of this section of the book is that it includes advice for aspiring museum professionals at all seasons of their careers. This has likely helped to make the book such a seminal one in museums studies programs and in the field at large.
Chapter Eight, Internships and Volunteering, is particularly useful to someone in the middle of a program now, probably a large proportion of the book’s audience. I especially enjoyed it because it discussed the various reasons one should accept an intern or volunteer position, even if it is unpaid and one would rather have a paying position. Chapter Nine, Finding Jobs and Applying, was especially useful to me and, I suspect, to people like me. I felt as I was reading this section of the book that I got more out of it as someone who is currently going through the situations she describes than I would have if I read the book a year or two years ago. It is so well-written, however, that it would be easy to come back to the book and use it for reference, as I may one day do with Chapter Ten, Professional Development and Career Growth, as it emphasizes several ways in which museum professionals stay up to date on changes in the field.
I especially enjoyed this book because I could relate to it so well. Schlatter not only uses real world examples, but also discusses her own career trajectory and experiences during the seasons of her museum career: pre-professional, student, para-professional, and professional. I also enjoyed that she included some of her own experiences with having a family and being a member of the museum profession. Over the past few months, I have found it frustrating that my career choices would be so much more open if I were able to move anywhere in the country. This is impossible for me, however, as a new wife who now has a second person’s career to consider in addition to her own. Schlatter handles the issue of juggling family and career sensitively in many places in the book, and I am especially grateful to her for that. This is one of the best practical guides that I have read in graduate school and I plan on adding it to my collection as a well-loved favorite.
[1] N. Elizabeth Schlatter, Museum Careers: A Practical Guide for Students and Novices (Walnut Creek , CA : Left Coast
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid., 87
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