Depending on Docents & Volunteers

I know I speak for many people when I say I used to underestimate the importance of docents. Before entering my Museum Education master's program at the George Washington University, I foolishly believed that museum educators could manage all of the visitors that entered museum doors. Now, having extensive experience on working in and visiting museums on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., there is no way museum educators could manage the tens of millions of visitors that come each year.

As such, museums rely on volunteers and their docents to facilitate programs and give tours. Becoming a volunteer at a museum isn't as easy as it might seem, though. Many museums have extensive programs participants must complete before becoming eligible for giving tours and interacting with museum visitors. Today, I spent four and a half hours in a docent training session at the United States Botanic Garden. We were briefed on how to interpret and answer questions for visitors pertaining to orchids and carnivorous plants. This session was one of six sessions participants are expected to finish before giving tours to the public. It is clear the Botanic Garden relies on (yet values) their volunteers and docents. On display in the gardens are the names of thirty seven people who have spent between five hundred upwards of two thousand five hundred hours volunteering at the gardens. How amazing is their contribution? The volunteer and docent contributions at the Botanic Garden are not out of the ordinary. Across the mall docent and volunteers are the unsung heroes in museums. The next time you go to a museum, thank your docent or volunteer-- we rely on them!

#docent #volunteer #museum #MSTDSM