Gallery, Library and Museum Technicians
Prepare artworks, specimens and artefacts for collections, arrange and construct gallery exhibits, and assist Librarians and other information managers in operational and technical aspects of library work.
Hanging a show before the doors open
You are a museum and gallery technician preparing a local history exhibition that opens at six tonight, with two helpers and a lot of boxes. It is 1pm. The mayor is due to open the show at six. Half the cases are still empty, a lender has arrived early, and a school group is booked at four for a preview.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
That is my father's old trumpet. Can I just hold it for a moment? I would like to put it in the case myself, if that is all right. He would have liked that. I promise I will be careful.
Say yes and let him place it where he likes, since it is his family's object
He sets it in the case at an angle that strains the mouthpiece, and you cannot undo it without upsetting him. The object is on display, but not safe, and the case needs reopening tomorrow.
Explain you will place it, and ask him what it meant
He tells you the story as you set the trumpet on a mount. He is moved, and asks to write it on the label. The object is safe and the story is richer for it.
Say no, politely, because only staff can handle collection items
You protect the object, but Mr Abdullah leaves a little hurt and says nothing about the story. He came with something precious to him and felt shut out.
I know it is tight, but I have just had a better idea for the main wall. Can we swap the whole east section with the west and hang it all again? It will take only a few hours, I am sure.
Agree to swap everything and promise to stay late to make it work
You get it done, but not all the labels are moved, the lights are not re-aimed and two works are hung crooked. The show opens, and the details are not what they could have been.
Show her what can change by six, and plan the rest for next week
Dora agrees to move two pieces and leave the rest. The room has a new focal point and the opening is calm. She admits that her idea was better for next week.
Tell her it cannot be done and carry on hanging the original plan
Dora feels unheard, and you lose the chance to use a good idea. The relationship between curator and technician takes a hit the day it needed to be strong.
Hello! We are early. The bus came faster than I expected, and the children are very excited. Could they come in and touch things? We did not want to wait outside in the cold.
Let them in to the finished rooms and show them how to look, not touch
The children are well behaved, but your helpers are still working in the main room and a ladder is in the middle of it. It works, but you are nervous the whole time.
Invite them in and let them touch whatever they like, since they are children
Small hands find an object that was not yet in its case. Nothing is broken, but you have a long list of fingerprints, a moved label and an anxious curator.
Take them to the library next door for a story and bring them in at four as planned
The librarian shows the children the local history shelf, and they come back to the gallery happy and settled. The exhibition is ready, and the visit works.
How it went
At six the doors open, the trumpet has a story beside it, and the quilt is safe from the sun. Gallery and library technicians look after things that belong to a community, and the people attached to them. Would you like being the person who protects the past?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The quilt and the open window
A fictional case set in a regional gallery and museum, plus its small public library next door, where technicians prepare displays and keep collections in order.
The situation
A regional museum was preparing a show of local women's work, including a hand-sewn quilt lent by the Yilmaz family. Jun, the museum technician, arrived on the morning of the opening to find the room warm and the display wall getting strong afternoon sun through a window. The curator, Marguerite, was nervous about the tight schedule. The family had asked that the quilt be displayed by the window so that it would be near the garden where it was made.
What they did
Jun measured how much light fell on the wall at different times and explained to Marguerite and the family that the sun would fade the fabric over the weeks of the show. She did not just say no. She suggested a spot out of direct light, with a photo of the garden alongside it, and added a soft cover on the window. She wrote the change in the condition report and told the family before they arrived, not at the door.
How it turned out
The quilt was displayed in a better place and the show opened on time. Mrs Yilmaz said the photo of the garden next to it was exactly what she would have wished for. The window cover stayed on for every later show in that room.
What would you do?
- Why do you think the museum keeps a condition report for every item?
- How would you tell a family their wish for display would harm their object?
- What small details in a room could affect a fragile thing?