CSI: Registrars

Pictured above - CSI:Registrars at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, San Diego, California (10/24/09)

Each year as part of the Western Museums Association annual meeting, the Registrars Committee-Western Region holds a day of volunteerism for its members at one of the museums local to where the meeting is being held. We call it CSI: Registrars!*

This all-day event entails professional registrars and collections managers volunteering for the day at a small museum** to help them catch up on projects such as:

• accessioning
• condition reporting
• rehousing objects

--projects that it may be benefited by having help from trained professionals.

Click here for information on the 2011 Honolulu CSI Event (61k pdf)

What YOUR PROPOSAL SHOULD ENTAIL is the following:

• A description of your organization (size, type of collection(s), number of staff, number of volunteers) and why you need our help
• The number of volunteers your organization can reasonably accommodate
• The names and titles of staff who will be on hand to assign projects and supervise the volunteers
• Confirmation that you will be able to host this event on either Sat or Sun all day (say from 9-4)--please be sure to specify the times and if one day is preferred over the other
• Indicate whether or not you will be able to help with transportation to and from the hotel (if not, this is not a problem)
• Describe our options for ordering in food for lunch (preferably with at least some sort of accommodation for vegetarians or those with dietary restrictions or food allergies)
• And most important of all
  List in as much detail as possible the projects that you would like assistance with (examples of past projects include: cataloging objects; inventorying discreet collections; rehousing costumes and archives; condition reporting objects and assessing condition/conservation concerns in the exhibit areas)
• List the supplies that you will need for these projects --that you do not already have on hand--

If your organization is selected to host this event, RC-WR WILL SUPPLY THE FOLLOWING:

• The requisite number of trained collections professionals to volunteer for the day
• Transportation to and from the hotel for the volunteers (unless you can help out)
• Lunch! (well, you'll make the recommendation, but we'll do the paying)
• Supplies for the projects (that's why we'll need a detailed list as far in advance as possible so we can order the supplies for you)
• And there may be other take-home goodies thrown in as well!

So, in essence, you get a full day of professional assistance for FREE! That's certainly worth taking the time to write up a proposal, right? Please note that most likely only one museum will be selected for this event, but if we have an excess of volunteers, we may selected two museums!

For more information, contact Allyson Lazar, CSI: Registrars Organizer

* (CSI stands for Collection Services Initiative)

** (Note: if you are a larger museum and feel that this service can better be utilized by someone else, please feel free to send us suggestions for whom we should contact.)

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