Enfield residents are being invited to comment on proposed changes to the Council's "heritage resources" which are intended primarily as a cost-cutting measure, but at the same time would provide increased online access to these resources.
The Council is proposing to digitise the materials stored at the Local Studies Centre in Thomas Hardy House and make them available online. The current Monday to Friday drop-in access to the Local Studies Centre would cease and visitors wishing to see materials would need to make an appointment. This would free up staff time for the digitisation effort.
A linked proposal is that the Enfield Museum at the Dugdale Centre should relocate from the ground floor to the first floor, freeing up space on the ground floor for other uses (presumably either another council service relocated to Dugdale or another commercial use - hopefully of the same quality as the cafe and Eco wine bar). Visitors would be able to view the museum exhibits throughout the extended opening hours at the Dugdale Centre - it's now open until 11pm on Tuesdays to Saturdays.
These changes would bring both benefits and losses. On the plus side of the equation: 24/7 online access to local history resources and evening viewing of the museum collection. On the minus side: there is no real substitute for handling actual historical objects; it's inevitable that some materials will be poorly suited to digitisation; not all material will have been put online when access by appointment only begins; there will doubtless be a reduction in the number of specialist staff employed in the two facilities; the relocated museum will presumably be smaller.
It's sad to see the services that local councils have built up over the decades being whittled away by a government that is supposedly promoting "localism".
You can read the consultation document online and complete an online questionnaire. The deadline is 18th October.
