Leah M. Melber

Teaching the Museum is a collection of essays, essentially information interviews, about building a career as a museum educator. This book is not the nitty-gritty of here is how you select a graduate school, what to do if your GPA is not perfect, or even about the variety of career options in museum education, but advice and anecdotes from professionals in the field, more a collection of “bits of wisdom”.

As a profession, museum education is a fairly recent addition and, as noted by Kathleen Tinworth in her contribution, “there was no clear path to museum work” (p. 18), though the field is increasingly encouraging the pursuit of a graduate degree in the field, as Ben Garcia notes in his essay “that about 70% of the jobs in museum education required a master’s degree or higher” (p. 100). It is possible to break into the field by volunteering or summer work in a museum, and Sarah Marcotte describes how she got her first position as a museum educator by cold calling a person at a museum and asking that person how they got their job (p. 60). Based on the essays in this volume, and accepting Ben Garcia’s testimonial that “not only did going to graduate school make me better at my job, it changed my career trajectory, aligned me with my passion and gave me a vision for what I want to do in the field that holds true five years after graduating” (p. 100) this advice in this book comes down firmly on the side of pursuing advanced studies in museum education to enter and advance in the field.

Other sections of the book focus on professional development, such as creating a leadership style by learning from mistakes, working with the general public to encourage use of the museum for both children and adults, and to overcome professional challenges, like the museum administrators not recognizing the impact of museum education on museum patronage. Not all readers will find all of the advice meaningful or essential when making their first steps into the field, but some of the advice may speak to a reader’s current career planning. For example, when Greg Stevens argues for creating a “career posse” or “a trusted group of like-minded folks who get together to think and talk about their careers and the field, past, present and future” (p.129) most museum education professionals could see the value of assembling a personal career support group. On the whole, the reader may find that some of the book speaks to their situation, but that some of the experiences may not trouble them once in their careers.

Overall the book is probably not the book that the reader needs to plan their career in museums, though there may be “bits of wisdom” throughout the book that they could take away and apply in their own careers. The book also does include international contributions, which offers some diversity, as well as advice for new professionals who may find themselves starting a museum education program, as well as their own careers. A more comprehensive, and slightly more traditional career guide, such as A Life in Museums, which is also available from the American Alliance of Museums, could help a new professional with more practical work search and career management advice, so I would treat Teaching the Museum more as a supplement to that book.… (altro)