The British Library supports research by collecting and maintaining the national archive; by ensuring the provision of the national bibliography; by building up its collections of research materials from all over the world; and by providing access to its collections through reading rooms and interlending and document delivery services. This paper examines some of the questions of mission and ethics that the British Library has recently been addressing. Discussion includes: (1) Library policy admitting mainly users in the scholarly and research communities; (2) the role of the Internet in drawing in more of the user population; (3) Library income, expenditures and Government grants; (4) the question of charging fees for accessing reading rooms; (5) maintaining a modest level of grant-in-aid funding and finding alternative funding sources; (6) extending the legal deposit law which currently applies only to printed materials to include the deposit of non-print publications; (7) partnerships with the private sector; and (8) public policy developed to address legal, economic, and ethical issues. (AEF)