GCG Survey: Feedback 1 by Timothy A. M. Ewin

Skills requested by GCG survey responders

Using the results from the recent GCG survey, I was asked by the committee to assess both the skills needed by museum stakeholders and those which the group could already offer. To do this, I listed all the responses given for several different questions, to capture as broad a range of responses as possible. These included:

• Are there any subjects that you would like to see us cover as part of our programme?
• What topics would you like to see covered in GCG Publications?
• Is there anything that the GCG are not currently doing that you would like to see us supporting

Once I had all the responses, the duplicates were removed and the remaining responses, there were 115, were then arranged into 10 categories. These categories were arbitrarily selected on the basis that they encompassed a reasonable number of related responses. The responses covered a very broad range of curatorial issues for a wide spectrum of professionals at different stages of their career. These 10 categories were:

1. Early Career training/ Non-geological specialist resources
2. Mid-Career/ Advanced Geological curation training
3. Legal and Ethical
4. General Collections issues
5. Museum partnerships
6. Conservation/preparation/sourcing of curatorial supplies
7. Digital collections creation/use/best practice
8. Advocacy
9. Outreach/exhibition/community engagement
10. Fund raising

I am fully aware that others may disagree with the titles of the categories and also the position of the various responses (I was rather undecided on several!) and I hope people will respond with alterations, additions and deletions to both the responses and the structuring of them into categories. To do this, please send responses to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

You can download a full list of the skills requested below.

Skills Offered by GCG Members

A list of skills has been compiled using the responses received from the recent GCG survey for skills offered by GCG members to help others in the heritage sector. There was significant duplication, which has been removed, but otherwise, response are as they were offered. The responses were then grouped, arbitrarily into related groups to assist in understanding the coverage members are able to offer.

This document is currently evolving and it is hoped that more skills will be added. If you can offer other skills then please  contact me via e-mail (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).This is particularly relevant in light of the skills requested (listed above or download the full list here) which suggests that there are gaps in what can be offered and what is requested although this is probably misleading as many of these areas can be covered it is just that they were not explicitly offered by GCG members. A document comparing the skills requested and offered is also available for ease of comparison and can be found below. As such I urge you all to look though these documents and offer skills where you can!

Related downloads

• List of skills requested by survey respondents
• List of skills offered by GCG members
• Comparison document of skills requested and available