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Dear Katie,
This has always been a sticky problem. In the ten years I've been at this
museum I have reported to the Director, The Head of the Museum Services
Department, The Senior Curator for Historical Art, The Senior Curator for
Contemporary Art and during one re-org was almost a part of the Public
Programs Division!. It is clear that the library is a very flexible
operation and can fit in almost anywhere. I believe that almost any
division head was willing to take the library, as we don't cause much
trouble and they got to see all of the new books. However, the policy of
not causing any trouble has not really forwarded the cause of the Library.
We adopted that stance because we were afraid that closing the Library
might be seen as a cost saving measure.
After all of this, it is my opinion that the higher in the hierarchy you
can place yourself, the better. The more visible and important the library
can appear to be, the better. The more in touch with executive decisions
and policy making groups, the better. I am currently reporting to the
chief curator and this seems a reasonable position, though the ideal set up
would be to report to the director, making the Library and Archives a
separate division. This is not easy when the total library staff is 3.
But we're working on that too!
I'd be very interested in seeing what others have to say.
Cheryl Siegel
Vancouver Art Gallery
750 Hornby St.
Vancouver, B.C.
CANADA
V6Z 2H7
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