Page:The museum, (Jackson, Marget Talbot, 1917).djvu/231

Rh some part in working on the lists, correcting mailing list, entering payments, making out membership cards, etc.

A system of telephones in all parts of the building is an absolute necessity and, of course, requires a switchboard with an attendant. This operator, however, except in the case of a large museum like those of Boston and New York, will have time to attend to other matters as well. It is sometimes thought desirable to combine the duties of cloak-room boy and telephone operator but this is not advisable, for the switchboard must be carefully tended and is sure to make demands just at the moment when the largest number of people appear to offer garments to be checked. It is much better to combine the duties of operator with some clerical work of a more or less routine character. Exactly what, is a problem that confronts each museum separately. In Chicago, New York and Boston, well-established museums with a long list of publications, the sale of catalogues and postcards amounts to such a big business that there are special employees to take care of it. In Chicago and New York these attendants also serve as information clerks and ticket sellers. In one museum the offices of ticket seller, information clerk, catalogue and postcard seller and telephone operator were all combined