What does a museum technician do?
Museum technician responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real museum technician resumes:
- Assist with planning, designing, and prototyping new exhibits.
- Prepare daily animal diets and perform cleaning duties to USDA and AZA standards.
- Perform an array of prototyping, fabrication, assembly, integration, and installation of exhibits.
- Organize and catalog anthropology, mineral science and paleobiology collections.
- Create and run excel macros on ceramic artifacts providing statistical analysis data.
- Create and run excel macros on ceramic artifacts providing statistical analysis data.
Museum technician skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Museum Technicians are proficient in Collections Database, Museum Collection, and Artifact. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Computer skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Museum Technicians that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Collections Database, 11%
Modified images using Adobe Photoshop so they met governmental standards and collections database requirements.
- Museum Collection, 11%
Restore, maintain and prepare objects in museum collections for storage, research, or exhibit.
- Artifact, 11%
Assisted in preserving and restoring Artifact for storage and display.
- NPS, 9%
Performed Integrated Pest Management and housekeeping duties following NPS standards.
- Pest Management, 8%
Implemented maintenance programs for storage areas including pest management and climate control.
- Cataloging, 8%
Provided telephone support on questions concerning the cataloging of historical objects to other parks within the National Capital Region.
"collections database," "museum collection," and "artifact" are among the most common skills that museum technicians use at work. You can find even more museum technician responsibilities below, including:
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a museum technician to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "archivists, curators, museum technicians, and conservators must explore minutiae to determine the origin, history, and importance of the objects they work with." Additionally, a museum technician resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "catalogued, re-housed, and stored artifacts; updated computer database"
Customer-service skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of museum technicians is customer-service skills. This skill is critical to many everyday museum technician duties, as "archivists, curators, museum technicians, and conservators work regularly with the general public." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "operate the front desk assisting guests and perform daily operations in the museum. "
The three companies that hire the most museum technicians are:
- Thomas Jefferson Foundation
3 museum technicians jobs
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Museum technician vs. Art preparator
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between museum technicians and art preparator. For instance, museum technician responsibilities require skills such as "collections database," "museum collection," "nps," and "pest management." Whereas a art preparator is skilled in "art exhibitions," "art installation," "art preparation," and "sculpture." This is part of what separates the two careers.
On average, art preparators reach lower levels of education than museum technicians. Art preparators are 5.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.7% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Museum technician vs. Book conservator
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, museum technician responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "collections database," "museum collection," "artifact," and "nps." Meanwhile, a book conservator has duties that require skills in areas such as "conservation treatments," "rare books," "paper conservation," and "research projects." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Book conservators tend to reach lower levels of education than museum technicians. In fact, they're 6.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Museum technician vs. Conservator
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a museum technician is likely to be skilled in "collections database," "museum collection," "artifact," and "nps," while a typical conservator is skilled in "social security," "photographic documentation," "conservation lab," and "conservation treatments."
Conservators typically earn similar educational levels compared to museum technicians. Specifically, they're 3.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Museum technician vs. Curatorial specialist
Types of museum technician
Updated January 8, 2025











