The European decorative arts galleries at the British Museum are closed because of staff shortages--not enough guards. The disappointed visitors confronting a broad, tall, closed wood door, is advised to phone ahead in future. And that is just what I've done before setting forth. ."Thank you," says the recorded message after quite a few rings and clicks. "All of the information staff are busy at present." There follows a menu that among other options allows me to reserve a wheel chair but offers no info about which galleries are shut for the day. When the menu finishes, the voice begins again: "I did not get your response." The menu repeats....
The BM is one of the world's greatest museums in a city that bills itself as a culture capital because it is one. It is also one of the most visited institutions in England; a country that runs its museum as if it has not yet managed to make its way into the developed world.
Can this inability to be fully open and to inform the public about what is closed, along with the London- wide shut down of all its museum for three straight days over Christmas, be a problem of such magnitude that it defies solution by museum directors and even more worrying by the people elected to run the country? Just think of the implications if the answer is yes. Or perhaps it is not necessary to think about that, one only needs to be pained by the all too obvious answers.
