In my work as a museum consultant I often have to make use of attendance figures provided by museums. In my experience the only reliable figures are based on paid tickets - and even here there can be anomolies. All other figures must be treated with caution. The introduction of charging for entry to previously free museums can cause a large apparent drop in numbers due to a combination of price sensitivity and having accurate figures for the first time. It may be significant that the approximate methods used by museums all seem to give "high" values. Institutions seem not to be critical of flawed systems that give them good news. I know of one case where a combination of staff entrances and exits, the cleaners polishing the glass of the magic-eye and their to-and-fro broom movements as they cleaned the floor, had repeatedly added 100,000 to the recorded annual attendance! A form of turnstill should give good attendance data for free museums but it will impede entrance. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- Julian Ravest EMail [log in to unmask] "Everyones actions are rational within the world as they see it"