Introduction

The British Museum was established by the British Museum Act, 1753 which was repealed and replaced by the British Museum Act, 1963. The British Museum is an exempt charity within the meaning of the Charity Act, 1960.

The purpose of the British Museum is:

• to curate the collections (including conservation and documentation) to the highest possible standards;

• to extend knowledge and understanding of the collections by study, research and scholarly publication, including contributions from relevant fieldwork and archaeological excavation;

• to extend and enrich the content of the collections through acquisition;

• to maintain and improve the buildings which house the collections and in particular to enhance those areas which are in public use;

• thereby, through all of the above, to inspire and excite visitors and other users of the Museum, helping them to enjoy the collections to the fullest extent, through well presented and serviced public galleries and reserves, world-class exhibitions, education programmes and publications and imaginative use of new technologies.

The Museum has a board of 25 Trustees: one is appointed by the Sovereign, 15 by the Prime Minister, 4 on the nomination of the British Academy, the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Arts and the Society of Antiquaries of London, and 5 by the Trustees themselves. The Board sets policy and reviews the Executive's performance, whom it charges with carrying out policy. The Executive is led by the Director who chairs the Museum Management Board.

Achievements in 1996/97

The Museum's achievements included:

• a new gallery, illuminating the History of Money, was opened in January 1997 as part of a £2m sponsorship agreement with HSBC Holdings plc;

• 162,000 visited a spectacular exhibition of recent Chinese archaeological finds 'Mysteries of Ancient China', sponsored by the Times;

• funds raised towards the total £97m cost of the Great Court Scheme reached £64m, including £12.7m raised entirely from private sources;

• 25% of the total 1996/97 budget was spent on work contracted to outside agencies. Further opportunities continue to be explored;

• the British Museum Study Centre scheme, a PFI project which will bring together all of the Museum's study collections into a single building providing major improvements in public access, is progressing to the contract stage during 1997;

• visitor numbers at both exhibition sites totalled 6.8m, making Bloomsbury the most visited public building in the UK;

• 4 travelling exhibitions were assembled and over 2,000 objects were loaned to 93 UK institutions; and

• the Museum maintained its position as the World's most active museum publisher with 68 monographs produced, the most commercially successful being 'The Mysteries of Ancient China' which sold 20,000 copies.

Plans for 1997/98

The plans for The British Museum include:

• two new permanent galleries will open during the year, Celtic Europe and Roman Britain, the latter with sponsorship from the Weston Foundation and both with support from the Museum and Galleries Improvement Fund;

• whilst there will be substantial preparation for the two major construction projects, the Great Court and the British Museum Study Centre, maintaining at the same time the highest possible availability of visitor services will be a key objective;

• an anticipated visitor population of over six million will be maintained and Sunday opening hours improved with a 12 noon start;

• two major temporary exhibitions, 'Ancient Faces' and 'Cartier', will be held with a planned net income target of £200,000;

• the evaluation of a prototype collection multimedia public access system (COMPASS) will be completed and the specification for the full system produced;

• the Museum's position as a world leader in outputs of scholarly and popular publication will be maintained with over 60 publications planned; and

• an education programme for people with physical and learning disabilities will be introduced with a new, sponsored, Access Education Officer.

Key Performance Targets
	1994/95		1995/96		1996/97		1997/98
Key Measure	Set	Achieved	Set	Achieved	Set	Achieved	Set
Number of Visitors (Millions)	6.0	6.3	6.0	6.1	6.0	6.8	6.0
Collection Records Created (000's)	76	70	65	50	53	60	35
Students in Booked School Parties (000's)	140	141	150	173	160	180	180
New Titles Published	53	51	58	56	62	65	68