My tuppence.
The location of archives is always an annoyance for most people - they're either in the middle of cities, where travellers can't reach easily, and/or nowhere near parking, and/or aren't open that many hours.
As somebody "Cambridge born and bred" I'd rather go to Ely, easily park outside and take my time, rather than trying to faff about getting to the Shire Hall. Of course, that doesn't solve the problem of the inaccessible archives in the main library.
Many people have moved out of the area, especially as most researchers are probably older now and so moved out for "the quiet life", or married somebody from somewhere else, or had to relocate for work/whatever, so I bet it'll suit more rather than fewer.
Going forward, it's a money-saving exercise - but, bear in mind that Cambridge were told their archive storage is inadequate to meet the needs of an archive service - so the whole lot could have been wiped out through damp/whatever overnight if they were left where they were.
Maybe the new facility, in the future, with a slightly larger budget and more space, will be able to use their space/time/budget wisely to make more records available more easily ..... more digitization and online perusing.
While an annoyance if you happen to live in Histon Road/Huntingdon Road....I'm sure for those in Ely, the Fens, Peterborough, the edges of Newmarket, over at Huntingdon, down near Royston even ....and all those people who now live across the country and the world this is to be welcomed.
When I visit (next year), having driven up from Darzit, I'll be able to simply breeze into the car park without a tinker's care about how long I'll be parking and the cost of it
Although, realistically, I'll be doing a round robin, so staying with a sibling in Northamptonshire.
I've already started bookmarking stuff in the CALM....including my G-granddad asking for permission to site a shed/cycle store in his garden -and my GG-granddad requesting a £2 loan from a charity to start a rag/bone business.
I shall not use the archives again once they have moved.
Just as concerning is moving the Cambridgeshire Collection from the Central Library to Ely, the newspaper collection, electoral registers, street directories etc., held there are invaluable and they did have purpose built storage facilities.
Ah, hadn't realised! Brilliant, finally everything I'd want, all in one place. Marvellous.
