Former Archives and Records Association of New Zealand (Aranz) national president Peter Miller said many researchers had not realised that from early next year reading room hours at New Zealand centres would be nearly halved.
‘‘This will have a drastic impact on the ability of researchers to undertake their work,’’ he said.
Amateur genealogists, University of Otago students travelling to other cities and a host of other researchers would find the new hours difficult.
That was because they often had to pay travel and accommodation costs to enable them to undertake research, including on old government and local government records.
Reduced reading room hours meant slower research progress and higher costs through
longer research trips.
It was ‘‘lamentable’’ that Archives New Zealand had already announced the decision in advance but had not fully consulted users and professional bodies earlier, Mr Miller said.
The New Zealand Historical Association and the Aranz council had since voiced their concerns about the changes, he said.
Archives New Zealand chief archivist Richard Foy announced that from March 2, the week day reading room opening hours would switch to 9am-1pm at the Dunedin, Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch offices.
Most of the rooms are open from 9.30am or 9am until 5pm.
Mr Foy said the decision ‘‘wasn’t made lightly’’, and had been based on reading room usage statistics.
These statistics showed ‘‘mornings are generally busier than afternoons’’, he said.
Research showed people wanted ‘‘easier and improved access to digital services’’, with a huge rise in demand.
‘‘Reducing the hours allows us to put our energy into digitising records and making them available for all online.’’
The situation would be reviewed in 12 months, and the views of customers and stakeholders would be taken into account, he said.
Over the past decade, visits to the rooms had fallen by 39%, and the number of archival items issued there had fallen
about 27%, from 51,815 in 2010-11 to 37,737 in 2018-19.
