Director of the British Museum

The Director of the British Museum is the head of the British Museum in London, a post currently held by Neil MacGregor. He is responsible for that institution's general administration and reports its accounts to the British Government. The actual governance of the British Museum, however, is delegated to its Board of Trustees. At the Museum's inception its most senior member of staff was called 'Principal Librarian'. The job title became 'Director and Principal Librarian' in 1898, and 'Director' in 1973 (on the separation of the British Library from the Museum).