Museum staff: Make time for the low hanging fruit

Can you think of that one project or task at work that has been swept under the rug, ignored and avoided for so long that no one is willing to take it on?

It may be poorly organized files on your share drive, materials with old branding, a restroom sign that is fading, old velvet stanchions that need replacing, (or maybe all of the above…). For me it was the “Do Not Touch” signs. Printed with an old inkjet printer on card-stock, folded with bent corners, wrinkles, fading ink, and old branding. They drove me crazy. Every time I walked by one, I’d cringe and would register it in the back of my head under “wish list projects”.

Now, if you want to make the argument that “Do Not Touch” signs are outdated and museums should be moving toward a more touch-friendly and interactive experience, let me just say, there are plenty of other articles on just that topic. This article, however, is simply demonstrating how a minor and probably overlooked project like updating your museum’s old “Do Not Touch” signs can be easily achieved and make a big difference. The decision to be rid of them completely, is entirely up to you.

For us, a historic house museum with decorated rooms open for visitor access, our old signs were necessary, but just not representative of our museum. Yes, I realize that I am probably the only person that had this cringing reaction when I saw them. But here’s why I cringed: while there are so many things that we don’t have a budget for/time for/resources for… this was not one of them. This was easy and it just needed to be prioritized.

For several years no one wanted to claim ownership of these signs. Was it Collections’ responsibility to change them? Was it the Learning department? At some point in the history of the museum (probably 5 years ago!) this must have lived under someone’s job functions. But here we are, and with no one willing to claim it (again: overworked, understaffed, etc).

So here’s what I did: I started complaining about it. I told a colleague that the signs drove me nuts and they mentioned another local museum where they had seen some memorable “Do Not Touch” signs. Memorable is good. So I reached out to that museum and asked them to share an image with me. Their signs had an archival photo from their own collection, with a historic figure sitting down and a slash over the individual telling visitors not to do what they’re doing. It was quirky and fun, but also connected to the museum’s history. Next I asked our Archivist for pictures of our founder sitting or touching something. We had several great images, so I decided to use two of them- one for sitting & one for touching.

Using those images, our museum’s branding, and Microsoft Publisher, I designed the graphics in-house. Next I went onto Amazon and purchased some post-card sized plexiglass sign holders (first asking Collections if they would be safe on the various museum objects). When the sign holders came in, we did have our maintenance team sand down the edges so that they wouldn’t scratch any of the surfaces. Designing, printing the signs in-house, and buying the sign holders in bulk, we ultimately kept this project under $100.

This low-budget project makes a big difference. In the first two weeks that they were out, we had one plexi-glass holder found empty and we realized that a visitor had taken the sign out. Presumably to scrapbook (?). That act of vandalism let us know that visitors liked the signs. Suddenly staff and volunteers began commenting on the new “Do Not Touch” signs. The signs that no one noticed before (or maybe they were all turning a blind eye and cringing at them just like me), but now people were noticing. In the non-profit, low budget, understaffed and pressed for time world, let’s remember to stop and take a second from time to time to look for the low hanging fruit.