THE RELOCATION OF MANCHESTER ARCHIVES

FOR many years it has been planned to bring the Greater Manchester County Record Office and Manchester Archives and Local Studies together under one roof. The last plan, the Mackie Mayor* Project was shelved due to the fact that no Lottery Heritage Fund money was forthcoming. Now the following announcement has been made.

Plans for a major refurbishment of Manchester's town hall complex, improving services to the public and investing in key civic buildings and spaces, have been given the go-ahead.

Manchester City Council's top-level Executive approved proposals for a project lasting up to five years. At its heart are the goals of maintaining the historic complex for future generations while enabling the buildings to deliver state-of-the-art services.

The Town Hall Extension, Central Library and St Peter's Square will all benefit from the programme, scheduled to start this year and run until 2014. It is estimated the work will cost up to �65 million which will be partly offset by other savings.

One important aspect of the plans is the creation of a new Customer Service Centre on the ground floor of the Town Hall Extension. This would bring together a number of key services in a welcoming environment and enable visitors to resolve different enquiries in a single visit. For example a resident could pay their Council Tax, check out their housing benefit entitlement and borrow a book from a new family and community library.

The new family and community library, which it is proposed to call City Library, will also be created on the ground floor alongside the Town Hall Extension. This follows the success of similar community libraries elsewhere in the city, for example North City Library in Harpurhey, which combine library facilities with other council services.

The refurbishment will create more desk spaces in the Town Hall Extension as office space is used more effectively, enabling the Council to vacate office space elsewhere in the city.

The Grade II*-listed Central Library will be sympathetically restored to increase access to the City's library collection and offer more than the traditional range of library services provided in the current building.

The Archive Reading Room will bring together Greater Manchester County Records Office, Manchester Archives and Local Studies and other partners to provide improved public access to Manchester's rich archive heritage.

Other planned elements include a 'Mediatheque' facility from the British Film Institute and the collections of the North West Film Archive. This will be a series of state-of-the-art spaces, including a cinema and ICT suite, where residents will be able to browse and view a range of Manchester-related films and television programmes.

The Library Theatre, currently in the basement of the Central Library, has outgrown its present home and needs to relocate to update its facilities, increase its audience capacity and expand its educational work. An options appraisal, looking at potential new homes, is currently being carried out and its findings will be reported to the Executive in April.

This news is obviously most welcome, and when the work is complete, will be a great asset to researchers. However it must be expected that there will be some disruption to to services provided by MALS (Manchester Archives and Local Studies) during this period.

It may well be relatively easy to find a new temporary location for the staff of MALS, but surely not for the stock of archives and books etc...I would imagine that most of the holdings will be placed in a secure store or stores outside of the city. Some may well be kept in their temporary home, wherever that might be. It will not be possible to order an item from the Archives at ten to the hour and expect to get it at twenty past the next hour. I will post the arrangements here as when they are released by MALS.

It envisaged that this work will commence "later in the year".  Clearly what people are going to have to do is contact MALS before they visit the Library, or when they move, the new location.

The intention behind this page is to try to be able to supply updates of information concerning the move, as and when they occur. If and when, there is any public consultation on this project I will certainly try to be involved.

This was released on 1st May 2009:

Manchester Central Library, one of the city's best-loved buildings and the third busiest library in the UK will be sympathetically restored as part of a wider programme of upgrades to the Town Hall complex, improving services and investing in key civic buildings and spaces.

The refurbished library, due to open in 2013, will also feature a new Archive Centre of Excellence to celebrate and showcase Manchester's rich heritage bringing together the collections of a number of archives from across Greater Manchester along with the North West Film Archive and the British Film Institute Mediatheque.

I have written  to  the Head of Library and Information Services asking if the equipment in the in Local studies and the Microfilm Unit is going to be upgraded. The reply was "yes". I am not sure if the new equipment will be purchased when MALS moves into the two temporary locations, or when the Archive Centre of Excellence is completed. Some slightly newer readers have been added to the Local Studies Unit, including one that has an electrical winder...stands back in amazement!!!  It's actually quite a nice machine, with a very clear screen and two lenses.

The Archive Department's temporary home will be located in the Northern Quarter alongside or part of the GMCRO. Local Studies will be located 1.1 mile away in the Deansgate area (Elliot House). It also appears that the move will now not be made before Spring. The Archives Department will have to close for a period of time whilst the move is completed.

MALS was one of the few centres that had been allocated free access to the 1911 Census.

Sadly the free 1911 Census has been withdrawn for the reasons explained below.

From Manchester Archives and Local Studies -

Please note, Manchester Archives and Local Studies no longer has free  access to the 1911 census for England and Wales. A set amount of free credits for the 1911 census have been provided by The National Archives at Manchester Archives and Local Studies. This has proved immensely popular, meaning free access in Manchester Archives and Local Studies will no longer be available from 1 October 2009. You can still access this census online. In place of the 1911 census, the National Archives is providing 3 months' free access to its Documents Online service, in Manchester Archives and Local Studies. The service includes wills, medal index cards, regimental diaries and many other collections - see :

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/?source=ddmenu_search5

The above information is based on posters supplied to Manchester Archives and Local Studies by the National Archives. Though the poster does not say so, there is also no longer free access to Findmypast. We are placing a subscription with Findmypast so that there will be free access on two of the Manchester Archives and Local Studies computers; please ring 0161 234 1979 to check if this is available. Finally, we are currently out of stock of the 1911 census vouchers - but these are now on order. We do apologise for any inconvenience caused.

I think that after the publicity generated by the National Archives that MALS have been left up a creek without a paddle. However that is just  my view.

Just in case anyone is wondering why the move will take so long take a look at this link. This video does not show the thousands of books that are on view to the public...so this relocation is a big task.

To see the official Council announcement see here.