New Procedure for Docents at ACM and NMS (other museums soon to follow):

FOM's new online docent availability function:
No more downloading availability information files, completing them and sending them back to your schedulers; no longer providing that information for every individual museum you are guiding in. From now on, you do it online:

1. Click on the following link or enter the address into the address field of your online screen: http://www.fom.sg/docents
2. Enter your username (your username is your preferred listed e-mail address you have provided FOM)
3. Your initial password will be your last name, and upon your first login, you will be asked to change it
4. Enter your availability information: the museums you are guiding in and your available days and times during the week (to enter your leave and return dates, please click on the calendar icons you will find to the right of each leave and return date field). After entering the leave date by'highlighting the respective date in the calendar, click immediately on the calendar icon'of the corresponding return date and enter your return date information accordingly
5. You may add some additional comment or information in the respective field, such as: "In December, I will only guide at TPM, NMS, SAM and STPI, so don't schedule me for ACM" or "In December, busy with special exhibition research group, so don't schedule me for any additional tours, please"
6. Save your availability information before exiting by clicking on "SAVE DATA"

Please read the details below, which have just been forwarded to us by the museum's education department. The use of the River Room should make guiding student tours easier and more convenient.

1) New spaces!

ACM has a fresh direction when it comes to usage of spaces (river room, auditorium, workshop room etc) in our museum. As you may already know from Stephanie that we will be renovating the volunteers' room and discovery room come end May this year.

On top of this, we will convert the public locker space to house student /group lockers (lockable & portable).

2) Use the River Room for school briefings

In the same breath, we now have use of the River Room (when available) to do briefing to school groups, We have just started this for the unguided school groups and would like to invite docents to enjoy the use of the River Room for pre-tour briefing on museum etiquette, splitting up of groups.

This is also the space to distribute pencils (free) & clipboards (which you know schools can borrow from ACM) and souvenirs after the tour/programme.

We believe that the River room is a more conducive holding place (esp for big groups! And will be weather proof) and seek your cooperation to bring students to the River Room before and after your tour. Bags could also be left here in neat rows. The previous arrangement of "parking" students outside the museum doors does not work when it rains!

3) Use BACK staircase - A gentle reminder

For the safety of the students, we have requested that all student groups with or without docents use the back staircase to access Level 2 entry to galleries and Shaw foyer and River Room.

The grand staircase is too wide and not all students going up the stairs will have access to the handrails. We also would like to leave the grand staircase to individual visitors and public groups that can sometimes be very big too.The back staircase is also a more direct route to the galleries and the River room.

We hope that all "old" and "new" docents can help us to keep to this procedure so that we can ensure the safety and enjoyment of all visitors.

Some docents have given me some feedback, saying that students should have access to the grand staircase like any visitor. It is not uncommon to have a separate entrance for big student groups so as to maintain order and ensue safety.

4) Use PENCILS only. (FREE!)

The museum has been trying to get visitors to use only pencils in our galleries by issuing free pencils. You may be familiar with the orange and black pencils. This is in accordance to conservation guidelines that we need to upkeep.

Using pens, markers, water or poster colour, crayons in our galleries may lead to accidental or intentional destruction of our artefacts on open display.

PLEASE ENSURE students in your guided tours use only pencils. We always distribute pencils to schools who need them. We can also prepare clipboards that can be loaned to schools (we have 200!) so please ask for these pencils from Shawn or Riko if you or your group needs them, if possible in advance.

The 5 main rules that the museum would like us to include in whatever etiquette briefing you design are these:

1. Walk, don't run. (Why? Not knock into artefacts, hurt ourselves, break glass showcases.)
2. Talk softly. (Why? Not disturb others, so others can hear the guide.)
3. No food in the museum. (Why? Creepy-crawlies (primary school) or pests, spillage destroy our space and artefacts.)
4. Do not touch artefacts even if object is on open display, unless in interactive zones. (Why? Oils on our fingers can stain or damage artefacts, artefacts are old and fragile.)
5. Take photographs without flash. (Why? Some objects are sensitive to light.)