Small Museum Association Conference 2025

In the museum field, job descriptions are often inconsistent and lack the depth needed to attract the right candidates, and this session provides museum professionals with the tools and techniques to create thoughtful, effective, and human-centered job descriptions. We'll unpack real job descriptions (the good and the bad), define your ideal candidate, and help you develop your advertisement. By the end of the workshop, participants will leave equipped with practical skills and strategies to attract the right candidates, reflect the values of their institution, and contribute to a more humane hiring process.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office is conducting a study for Congress on the condition of public library and museum facilities. To learn more about the challenges of maintaining a state of good repair in museum facilities, this session will be a discussion of the current conditions of museums, challenges funding infrastructure upgrades and repairs, and unique challenges small museums face. Representatives of any museum institutions are welcome.

Information in museums is predominantly presented visually, behind glass, or roped off, excluding visitors who are Blind or Low Vision along with anyone who learns best through touch. This session describes two case studies about creating touch objects that align with the interpretive goals of recent museum exhibits. We found that mixed groups of blind and sighted visitors benefit from tactile interpretations of exhibit content because they can experience the exhibits together.

Any museum, no matter the size, must learn to overcome the logistical challenges of bringing students to the institution.  Join Liberty Hall Museum’s Education Coordinator, Hannah Gaston, and Education Assistant Michaela Piepoli as they share the strategies and effective practices they use when coordinating school trips, with the goal that participants will feel more empowered and more educated about how to recognize and prepare for their own institution’s field trip challenges. The panelists will explore questions including: How do you tell the buses where to drop off or park?; How do you get local schools to know about your institution and programs?; How do you make historic rooms accessible for students with physical disabilities in non-ADA compliment spaces?; and more.