Issue - meetings

To consider and endorse or make recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory services on:

(i)            the decision to implement and publish revised opening hours for the archive search room at Kent History and Library Centre; and

(ii)       for the LRA service to progress to inform customers of these changes.

James Pearson (Head of Service Libraries, Registration and Archives) and Barbara Bragg (Strategic Manager, Specialist and Support Services for Libraries, Registration and Archives) were in attendance for this item.

1. Mr M Hill, OBE (Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services) introduced the report which set out the consultation feedback on the proposed changes to the opening times of the Archive search room at Kent History and Library Centre in Maidstone.

2. Mr Pearson said that the proposal had first been presented to the Growth, Economic Development and Communities Cabinet Committee on 1 February 2018 where Members were asked to endorse the proposal that the service progress to consultation. The report provided an update on the consultation process, the feedback from the results of the consultation and the recommendations for decision. Mr Pearson said that the evaluation of the consultation results led to a consideration of alternative proposals; the original recommendation proposed that the library closed on a Friday, however, having considered the feedback from the consultation, it was proposed that the closed day be changed to a Monday. There had also been a l number of responses that had asked for a late-night opening, however, data and evidence on the hourly usage did not support the request and the arrangement was rejected but the service would be kept under review. Mr Pearson assured Members that whilst certain requests had been rejected at the present time, the Archive search room would continue to be reviewed on a regular basis. Work was also being done in partnership with ‘Find My Past’ to digitalise all parish records to ensure that LRA services continued to expand access to the archives online, this was a county service and not everyone could travel to Maidstone.

3. In response to questions and comments, the officers provided the following information:

(a)  Mr Pearson said that the evaluation of the consultation results was completed by the LRA Customer Insight and Engagement team and that all evidence was collated using an intelligence led approach. The data showed that by shifting the extended hours to the end of the day rather than the start, this would have impacted on more users and therefore the proposal to open the Archive search room from 09:00am to 5:00pm from Tuesday to Saturday was deemed most appropriate for the benefit of all users.

(b)  Mr Pearson welcomed the thanks and recognition from Members regarding Mr Hill’s update on the reopening of Tonbridge Library following refurbishment and thanked those involved in the piece of work. He also reiterated the commendations to the contractors and the local LRA teams who had a significant role in transforming the service.

4. RESOLVED that the proposed decision to:

(a)  Implement and publish revised opening hours for the Archive search room at Kent History and Library Centre; and

(b)  For the Libraries, Registrational and Archives (LRA) service to progress to inform customers of these changes,

be endorsed.