Working Museums

Museums are among the most interesting places to go in the world. If you have completed a museum studies degree you are probably already aware of the many career options ahead of you due to the many types of museums and positions within each type. A museum studies degree gives you knowledge of history, understanding of the inner workings of libraries and the ability to manage the aspect of the museum that you find the most interesting. The varied occupations within the museum gives rise to an additional number of career paths outside of the museum working for other institutions, companies, governments and individuals with collections that need care and explanation.

Archivist

Archivists organize information that needs to be protected permanently. They handle the cataloguing, exhibition, retrieval and arrangement of their collections and research information related to the collections. This includes such forms as photos, video recordings, film, computer information, optical disks, paper documents, sound recordings, etc.

The skills and technology from the museum studies enables the archivist to maintain this information in the best possible condition using the newest methods and technology. Archivists work for a number of organizations outside of a museum.

Government agencies, historical societies and educational institutions create a huge amount of paper and computer records, among others, and are in need of archivists to preserve and protect the information. Archivists can specialize in a specific location, era or form of recording to better focus the career.

Curator

Curators handle the management of institutions that include museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens and historical sites. The museum studies degree teaches, in part, management of such institutions.

Some of the duties included in this position are related to issues of the collection and they include: acquisitions, sales, exchanges, storage, exhibition and loan. Another aspect of this position is the handling of objects with cultural, historical or biological significance. They are responsible for authenticating, categorizing and evaluating the objects in the collection.

In addition, they organize and oversee the research projects in the museum, grant proposals, publicity and meetings. Curators, like archivists, typically have some specialization that enables them to focus their career on a specific type of work.

Other careers that make use of a museum studies degree are:

  • museum technician
  • museum director
  • historian
  • conservator
  • registrar
  • exhibit designer
  • publications writer/editor
  • development officer
  • programs coordinator