Even with today’s struggling economy and the state’s lowered budget on higher education, Washburn’s book store and the Mulvane Art Museum gift shop have combined forces and created three new jobs on campus.

The gift shop was previously run by volunteers from the Women’s Board of the Friends of the Mulvane Art Museum group. The volunteers did everything from helping out with receptions and running the gift shop to organizing fundraisers for the museum. The women from this group will continue to help run the museum by volunteering their time being gallery attendants, sharing their knowledge of the art in the museum and helping with tours.

The jobs that were created are with the gift shop only and include two part time positions and a student position covering the weekday hours as well as being open on the weekends.

“The decision to have the bookstore and the gift shop be run under one big umbrella was a group decision,” said Kay Farley, the bookstore director.

Farley went on to explain the business plan of the bookstore and why it came to the conclusion of working together with the gift shop. With the bookstore creating jobs that would keep workers at the gift shop during regular hours it would prove to be monetarily beneficial. This decision was made, in part, because the gift shop was sometimes closed during museum hours, meanung museum visitors  were unable to purchase souvenirs from the shop.

The business plan worked, but the decision was not final yet. Farley and Cindi Morrison, the director of the Mulvane Art Museum, confided in the volunteers for their approval of the bookstore taking over the task of running the museum’s gift shop.

“The gift shop being open at the same time as the museum will prove to be beneficial to the museum,” said Morrison.

With the volunteers, the Mulvane Art Museum and the bookstore all on the same page, the decision was definite. The bookstore has taken over running the museum’s gift shop and will provide museum visitors the opportunity to visit the gift shop on their way back to their everyday lives. With the consistent schedule being put in place by the creation of these jobs, the museum stands to only benefit from the recent actions.