The British Museum has revealed plans to digitise its entire collection in a bid to increase public access and security after the alleged theft of around 2,000 artefacts.
As per a press release, the project is estimated to take five years. Upon completion, the institution’s whole collection will be accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world.
“Following the discovery that objects have been stolen from the collection, we have taken steps to improve security and are now confident that a theft of this kind can never happen again,” said Mark Jones, interim director of the British Museum.
“But we cannot and must not assume that the security of the collection, in a wider sense, can be achieved simply by locking everything away.
“It is my belief that the single most important response to the thefts is to increase access, because the better a collection is known – and the more it is used – the sooner any absences are noticed.
“So that’s why, rather than locking the collection away, we want to make it the most enjoyed, used and seen in the world.”
The museum has 2.4 million records to upload or update, but Jones said “more than half is already done”.
George Osborne, the museum’s chair of trustees, added: “Already we have some of the highest visitor numbers of any museum in the world, and a vast programme of national and international tours, but Mark has set out a compelling plan for how we can build on that to ensure the widest possible access and engagement with the collection – and I couldn’t be more supportive of his ambitions.”
“We were the victims of an inside job”
Around 2,000 objects are thought to have been stolen from the British Museum, with 350 of them recovered so far. In response to the crisis, the museum sacked a member of staff and launched an independent review of security.
Later, the museum asked the public to help it identify and recover its stolen treasures via a new webpage with pictures and more information on the types of objects that are missing.
Speaking at parliament’s culture, media and sport committee on Wednesday, Osborne said: “We were the victims of an inside job by someone, we believe, who over a long period of time was stealing from the museum and the museum put trust in.
“There are lots of lessons to be learnt as a result of that, the member of staff has been dismissed by us. The objects have started to be recovered.”
Images courtesy of the British Museum
