September 19, 2000
CONTENTS:
- Over a million apples and oranges missing from Dutch Museums
- re: security position request (Steve Keller)
- International Journal of Cultural Property
- Re: MSN subscribers: I need your feedback (Margaret Bing)
- Re: MSN subscribers: I need your feedback (Guy de Witte)
- Re: MSN subscribers: I need your feedback (Scott Methvin)
- Re: MSN subscribers: I need your feedback (Jennifer Howard)
- Re: MSN subscribers: I need your feedback (Steve Tlsty)
Over a million apples and oranges missing from Dutch Museums
On the 13th of September the Dutch newspaper Trouw severely critized the collection care (registration and preservation) of the cultural heritage by 19 privatized national museums in the Netherlands and the control of these State collections by the Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage. According to the research by the journalist, "based" on the rep[orts of the Inspectorate, 1.3. million objects are missing from these museums. In this regard the anthropological museum in Leiden (Museum voor Volkenkunde) is mentioned, which reported a substantial number of missing objects already in 1996. It was the situation in this museum, which already in 1989 resulted in a national registration and conservation programme (the Deltaplan for the Preservation of the Cultural Heritage) with extra financial means by the Dutch government to bring the care of the Dutch collections to an acceptable standard. Last year the abovementioned anthropological museum received as first museum in the Netherlands the international independent ISO- 9001 certificate for collection care. That one museum cares better for its collection than another is obvious; but this can also be explained by differences in financial means and in the scale and nature of the collections. For that reason the Inspectorate has developed a method, with the use of randomsamples, to follow the progress of the registration and conservation of collections separately. This method is not meant for a comparison between the museums. That according to this research the Van Goghmuseum has the best collection management, the Open-Air Museum the worst, and that the Rijksmuseum holds the tenth place cannot be deduced from the information in the inspection reports by simply adding the results of the random samples. During the last decade directors and curators have made much progress in raising the quality of the registration and preservation of the Dutch cultural heritage. By comparing apples and oranges Trouw has given a false impression of the care for the cultural heritage by museums. Museums aren't fruiterers but professional organizations.
Inspectorate of Cultural Heritage
From: IntlArtCop@aol.com
Subject: security position request
In a message dated 9/15/00 10:11:49 PM, a reader writes:
I am applying for a Museum security director position and come from a law enforcement background and executive protection/private investigator. I am looking for a few tips on how to write a good cover letter for this position. Can you help?
This is a good question. I have recruited many security directors for museums over the years and there is a serious lack of understanding on what is required in a resume and cover letter. Since many in our field are constantly seeking another (better) job, this might be a good time to address the issue.
First, understand that a security director in a museum worth its salt will be seeking a manager, not a cop, investigator, or macho man type. Security is not law enforcement and while having law enforcement (or military) experience is desirable and an asset in my opinion, having ONLY this experience is not an asset. When I left the police department, I had extensive credentials in law enforcement but didn't know the basics of security hardware, alarms, or other tools of the trade and I had never really managed. I had supervised but never managed in the way required. Don't confuse supervisory experience with management experience. In preparing a resume or cover letter, be very careful to make it clear that you have successfully made the transition in both training/experience and in philosophy, from law enforcement to the non-law enforcement environment. (In law enforcement we catch and punish crooks. In security, we could care less if they get caught, as long as they break into the museum across the street and not our museum. I'm only half serious, of course, but there IS a philosophical difference between law enforcement and security and this is a good part of the difference.)
OK. So about the RESUME. Stress your supervisory and management experience and skills. If you know SECURITY and its tools and methods, stress this fact and tell me why this is true. I want a manager who can also handle basic locks and alarms but management is most important. If you have managed a budget, give details. If you have handled employee grievences, say so including processing complaints through court or labor board hearings. If you have experience with contract as well as in house (proprietary) guards, say so. The most sought after skill: ability to write a policy manual, evacuation plan, disaster plan, and training program!!! Read that last sentence again. A person with two years experience and these skills will beat out a retired police or military officer every time. Note your education level in your resume. In the US, a major museum job requires a BA. A larger regional museum likes a BA but often accepts someone working on one. A CPP is highly desirable. Remember that you will be working with highly educated people and they respect education. If you are published in your field, be certain to say so. A Masters degree is a real asset even though it won't make you a better security manager, per se. It shows an ability to write and communicate and self discipline.
What if your BA is in something like criminology? That's good but remember that you are applying for a job in a "soft" security environment. I was once hired for a job in a museum as director of security and was told to play down my experience as a police officer because this was not considered as desirable as if I had come from some other environment. Go figure! A criminology degree will impress me but a management degree will impress me more. Don't apply for a museum security job with the misconception that those making the decision will be impressed with a criminology background or education.
What is least impressive and even detrimental in a resume or cover letter? Do not tell me that you are a black belt in some martial art or are qualified on specific weapons, etc. Do not attach copies of training certificates from law enforcement or military programs unless they directly support your management experience. Practitional skills, especially ones that show your physical prowess or ability to engage in violence scare the hell out of museum decision makers. Trust me when I say this. These are not desirable skills in a museum. You are applying for a management position. Capture and kill skills are in your past life. Visitor services and soft and fuzzy are your new life.
Your resume should be brief and to the point. It should stress your work experience and management skills.
Example:
Jan 2, 1995 to Present: Mega Corp, Director of Security--Duties include four direct reports, 125 union security employees total, approximately 25 additional part time contract guards used for special projects, budget of $2.25 million. I manage all aspects of this four site facility including protection of high value assets including super computer room, corporate art collection, historic building used as company headquarters, and semi conductor plant. I oversee in-house alarm and lock shops in addition to guard operations. During the last 24 months, we upgraded our computer based access control and alarm monitoring system, installed a digital multiplexed CCTV system, and revised our disaster manual.
The above tells me that the candidate has at least had some contact with an art collection, may understand historic fabric issues having worked in a historic building, and has managed a proprietary and contract, union operation. He has written a manual and has had some exposure to electronic systems. Your total work history should be OUTLINED in the resume. No bull. No false statements. no need to outline everything you did in the military or police career but it is good to show a progression in rank and duties. Stress "soft" assignments that show your ability to work in a "soft" security environment. No gaps unaccounted for. If you changed jobs often, a brief comment as to why you left might be appropriate and useful to your cause such as "Left to take a better position".
Your cover letter ought to grab the attention of the recruiter. Example:
Dear Mr. Jones:
Thank you for considering me for the Director of Security position at the City Museum. As you will see by the attached resume, I have 10 years lae enforcement experience including time as a supervisor and 5 years experience as a security manager and supervisor in a union company that uses both contract and proprietary guards. I have been successful in reducing costs and improving training and performance, I prepared a policy manual, a training program, and received several citations by my superiors for a job well done.
Please look over the resume and if you feel I meet your needs, I would be very pleased to be on the short list of those beng considered.
Sincerely
Do not tell me that I should call you to set up an appointment! Don't tell me you are the best candidate for the job. (You don't know who else applied).
If you are working with a professional recruiter who the company hired to fill the position, NEVER, EVER bypass the recruiter. Unless your uncle is a Vice President and you send your resume directly to him, follow the application instructions given to you or posted in the advertisement and this will probably require that you work through the recruiter. Why is this? First, the employer doesn't want the hassle of handling resumes himself. Second, he probably wants to or may be required to filter out politics and wants the selection to be fair and impartial. If, for example, you are a retired cop applying for a job in a city museum, never send your resume to the city manager or city council member or politician if a recruiter is involved. There may be legal reasons a recruiter is being used. But most important to you is the fact that the recruiter only gets paid if he finds a candidate for the job. If you bypass him and send your resume directly to the employer or human resources director or your "Godfather", the recruiter may not be elligible for a commission even though his hard work and even his own money for advertising made you aware of the job. He only gets paid if he gets HIS candidate hired, and you aren't HIS candidate if you don't go through him. Get the picture? In nearly every job I have recruited for, a handful of people, generally retired police officers, think they can bypass the system and get their resume noticed--perhaps bypass one step in the filtering process--by sending their resume directly to the employer. (I note that this almost always involves retired cops. I have thought about why this is but they are too lengthy to go into here. I note this so you don't think I am prejudiced against retired cops. I'm a former cop, myself.)
If an ad says to mail a resume, MAIL it. Mail and email are not the same. I got a resume for a recent job I recruited for that had a virus. That guy made a real impression on me but not the one he wanted to make. I asked that resumes be MAILED but over half were emailed. I know of one major museum security job where the management set specific rules for applying as a test to see if the applicants could follow instructions, then ruled out several outstanding applicants because they did not follow the process.
When you email a resume and the recruiter doesn't have the same software you wrote your resume on, the recruiter gets something between computer garbage and a less than perfect, poorly formatted document. Recruiters will not want to translate your resume or clean it up. They get too many of them. Remember that while you use a PC, they may use a Mac. You may have Word but they may use WordPerfect. They get your garbled resume and print it out. Whatever comes off the printer is how you are seen by the human resource director.
If you fax a resume, the final quality will only be as good as the recruiter's fax is capable of printing it, and it will have headers on it, so don't fax it from your bosses' fax machine. It doesn't look good for you. Don't mail it from your company postage meter, either. That's stealing.
Neatness counts. I want to see from your resume and the cover letter that you communicate effectively in writing. The cover letter is most important since a resume may have been professionally prepared. I also want to see if you have common sense and an understanding of business methods and practices. Is your letter properly formatted? Do you understand the software you are using or does the resume have glitches? Can you spell? Do you use proper grammar? Don't send a Xerox copy of a resume or letter. Always send an original. And if there are special requirements for education, experience, skills, etc., be sure your resume addresses each of them so the recruiter doesn't have to ask.
If you call the recruiter to inquire about your application, first give the recruiter enough time to receive all applications and go through them. Don't call prematurely. Call only once. If the recruiter is out, don't ask that he call you back. This may incur a cost to him and is time consuming when 200 people all apply. Don't call to "call attention to" your resume unless you truly have some skill that the recruiter may not recognize as valuable.
I hope this information is useful to the writer and others who are looking for a better job.
Steve Keller
Museum Security Consultant
From: oup@CASLON.OUP.CO.UK
Subject: ToC for International Journal of Cultural Property 9-01
Table of Contents for
International Journal of Cultural Property, Volume 9, Issue 1: 2000.
Available on the World Wide Web at:
http://www3.oup.co.uk/intjcp/hdb/Volume_09/Issue_01/
From: Peggy5791@aol.com
Subject: Re: MSN subscribers: I need your feedback
Dear MSN: I hope this reply is not too late. This is one of the best lists available to both librairans and museum workers. Please do not in any way limit it's function. It is the most informative and readable list for people involved with antiquities and a great service to public, private and university archival institutions.
Margaret Bing,
Pompano Beach, FL.
From: "Guy De Witte" zilverenpasser@pandora.be
Subject: Re:MSN subscribers' opinions.
Dear Ton,
first of all congratulations with what you have done until now. I think all subscribers can only agree that the list fills an important gap. Personally I subscribed because I am interested in security issues about fire, flood, disaster and also theft. As preservation management consultant for libraries and archives, the information I am after is especially technical and experiences of other interested parties, institutions and product sellers. During last month the list has mainly focused on art theft in itself and the kind of looted objects. Protection as a technical issue has been quite minimal. Although both subjects of art and protection are closely related, I think that it would maybe be more clear to subscribers if the list was split in two. I fear that now people get sometimes confused to what list they are subscribed too. Someone who is interested in both subjects can always subscribe to both and in some cases cross-posting would be good.
Meanwhile keep up the good work
Guy De Witte
De Zilveren Passer
Consultancy on Preservation Management
Workshop for Preservation, Conservation and Restoration of Books, Archival
Material and Graphic Art
Rabotstraat 28
B-9000 Gent
Belgium
e-mail: zilverenpasser@pandora.be
From: SenorMesa@aol.com
Subject: Re: feedback from a reader
Dear Mr. Cremers,
I have enjoyed your interesting data on the art world. I originally subscribed because of my interst in art crimes and the goings on behind the scenes in the musuems and auction houses. Your newsletter is very up to date and interesting. I recently took a trip to Boston and made a point to visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner musuem. After reading many entries concerning the sensational art theft, which occured there over 10 years ago, it was quite interesting to see the place and talk at length with a friendly guard. What a collection they have! There was a 15th century oil on wood that was hung in such a way that half of the back of the painting and it's cradling was exposed for me to see. This kind of thing is quite rare for the museum goer to see. Anyone with an interest in art should see this unusual museum and the bizarre way things are displayed (in some cases). As a professional oil painter, living in Laguna Beach, California, I sincerely appreciate the information you provide and the many useful things I have learned being a subscriber. Please keep up the good work!
Scott Methvin
Scott Methvin Fine Art Laguna Beach, CA
MethvinPaintings@aol.com
Subject: Re: Read MSN subscribers' opinions.
From: "Jennifer Howard" howardjen@washpost.com
Dear Ton,
I'd like to second all the favorable comments you got about the site. You do a terrific job; as a journalist and fiction writer with an interest in stolen art and the larger issue of cultural patrimony, I rely on the MSN postings to keep me up to date. Don't change a thing.
All best,
Jennifer Howard
Contributing Editor
The Washington Post
howardjen@washpost.com
From: "Steve Tlsty" stlsty@joslyn.org
Subject: RE: MSN subscribers: I need your feedback
Ton,
I believe the information on looted antiquities, provenance matters, art fraud, etc. should be kept on the mailinglist. Although I don't have a need for this information, it does pertain (although sometimes very obliquely) to the issue of loss prevention in the Museum world. After all, buying a fake or looted piece of art can be as costly and damaging to a Museum as having something stolen from its collection.
Steve Tlsty
Facility Manager
Joslyn Art Museum
Omaha, Nebraska
PS - Thank you for the work you've done; your mailinglist and website are a treasured resource.