So You Want to Work in a Museum?

by Tara Young

A One-Stop Guide to Museum Careers

People who love art, are fascinated by archaeology, or are history buffs may have considered the idea of working in a museum. But experience as a museum visitor reveals only the public-facing side of the museum, and not the complex, dynamic structure behind the scenes.

So You Want to Work in A Museum? helps to demystify museums as institutions and to prepare prospective museum staff to explore the field further. After reading this book, readers will be able

Understand how non-profit museums are governed, funded, and staffed, and how they define and meet their missions. Explore museum divisions and departments and specific roles within them—not just prominent roles like directors and curators, but also less visible ones like registrars, preparators, development officers, conservators, and more. Consider the contemporary function of museums, and how yesterday’s cabinets of curiosity have evolved into today’s community catalysts. Examine how the contemporary function of museums has affected the types of positions available and the work museum staff do on a daily basis. Look at the skills required for different types of positions, and how readers aspiring to work in those positions can best prepare themselves to land their dream jobs and be successful in them. Understand the benefits and potential challenges of working in a museum, and Access a wealth of resources that will inspire further study of the field, and outline next steps to pursue a museum career.

Genres: Nonfiction, Museums, Art

192 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 9, 2019

Reviews

[Caroline Cox Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, digestible book about the realities of the often mystified museum field. Despite working in a museum, this book helped me consider my long term career goals. The book is structured by department with each chapter having a break down of different jobs, the pros/cons, and required skills and education to be successful at it. I found her descriptions fairly accurate to my coworkers and senior staff and appreciated her consideration of institution size affecting day to day duties. Later, she even breaks down common skills and how to develop them in student or everyday life. Right now, I am practicing communicative writing with this review, as suggested in the book. It also widely spoke about which jobs were transferable to less niche job markets. I enjoyed that the author spoke positively and passionately about museum work, but in an extremely realistic way. None of the information was particularly groundbreaking due to my experience to me, but I felt reinvigorated to forge my path, and visit more museums in my free time!

[Jane Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do in fact want to work in a Museum, so I really liked this! Haha

[Mija · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just had a few chapters that weren’t assigned in class to finish off, and I finally got around to it. It was really good and overall quite helpful to have such a broad overview of the field. It was nice and readable which was a huge plus as well.

[Megan Treacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

first audiobook i’ve listened to and she was giving robot

[Nicole Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this book as part of my Advanced Museum Studies class, and honestly both really helped me to figure out where within the museum studies field I wanted to focus my efforts. A helpful read if you are looking at going the Museum Studies route!

[Dagmar · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 stars

I do not currently work in a museum, nor do I have any internship experience or museum education, but after finishing this book, I do feel like I know how my pre-existing skills could realistically be applied in a museum as a workplace.

This book was short, concise, and made the world of museum work far less intimidating. Explanations of roles were clear and I appreciated the way the author pointed out valuable skills for these positions as well as the types of personalities each role would best suite. The information was highly applicable and the profiles from the various museum workers were helpful in building understanding of what a real career in museums might look like.

The author did a great job making a book that may have been dense and difficult to get through due to essentially being a catalog of job descriptions, easy and enjoyable to read. Young's voice was clear and inviting. This book is an excellent breakdown of the variety of opportunities and obstacles for current and future museum workers.

[nnoelles]

Informative book for anyone looking to work in a museum. However, wouldn't recommend for a causal read since this is basically a catalog of job descriptions.

[Zoe Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and honestly a great read. I learned a lot

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very insightful on the different roles that are unique to museums. Recommend for anyone entering into the museum space.

[alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes. I do want to work in a museum.

When I picked up this book, I was immediately drawn to its well-organized layout and how detailed it was. It made it incredibly easy to go through the chapters, allowing me to read and skim through sections that caught my attention.

The author's ability to emphasize the importance and uniqueness of each role in the Museum Studies field, allowed me to compare them to others. The author provides great insight into the potential outcomes of pursuing a career in Museum Studies, including salary expectations and the competition between certain roles.

I highly recommend this book to those who are interested in pursuing a career in Museum Studies.