ACCESS A CONCERN AFTER LIBRARY HOURS CUT PHILLIPS POPULAR WITH RESEARCHERS

In recent weeks, cutbacks in staffing levels and hours by PeabodyEssex Museum's Phillips Library have caused users to question howmuch access they'll continue to have inside the storied Saleminstitution.

Last month, the library laid off five employees and, citing a 60percent decrease in walk-in usage since the mid 1990s, cut hours from4 to 1.5 days a week. This month, the museum said it will consolidateseveral departments that will be based at the library, and will moveto put part of its 400,000 volumes and 2 million manuscript papers onthe Internet.

The library also announced late last week that it would increaseadmission fees to visitors from $10 to $15 on Thursdays, whilecontinuing to allow Salem residents, Peabody Essex Museum members,and qualified researchers to view the collection for free.

The library, with its gold-leaf pillars, and busts of NathanielBowditch and George Peabody, is best known for holding the original1692 Salem witchcraft trials papers, and early works by NathanielHawthorne. According to museum officials, the library will continueto offer access to qualified researchers four days a week.

The researchers must be approved by John Grimes, the museum'sdeputy director of research, new media, and information. Dan Monroe,the museum's executive director, authorized the changes. He explainedhis reasoning in an e-mail.

"In making recent changes, the museum is affirming the things thathave always been at the library's core: serving scholars, serving thecommunity, and serving the public beyond our walls," he wrote.

Emerson W. Baker, chairman of the history department at SalemState College thinks the new hours reflect a class system, wherequalified researchers are rewarded with library access, and buddinghistorians all but shut out.

"I think people who will really be hurt the most are the walk-invisitors in town; the tourists who come to Salem who want to researchtheir history," he said.

According to the library, 880 people made 2,000 visits in 2003.

Baker also says the cutbacks in staff will make it harder foracademics and historians to conduct research.

"I have serious doubts about their ability to make the placeaccessible to visiting researchers. It's going to be more difficultfor them to do. I think they should be making things more accessiblerather than making it less accessible," he said.

Richard Trask, who directs the Archival Center at the PeabodyInstitute Library in Danvers, was also critical of the reduction inhours for walk-in users.

"I'm actually more concerned about the little guy than thescholar," he said. "The average person who wants to do familygenealogy, or wants to do research on his community is going to becut off significantly."

But Grimes, who is the head administrator of the library, said itwould continue to provide the same services to all visitors.

"This is a story about a library taking appropriate steps to makesure that it has a viable future and it's not just a little backwaterwhere a few people go to do research," he said.

Grimes declined to state the library's budget for digitizing itscollection, but said "it will cost huge amounts of money."

According to Joan Norris, a spokeswoman for the museum, theUniversity of Virginia has already posted the library's witchcraftpapers online. Norris also said the library invested $100,000 lastyear in new computer equipment "to increase its online capability"and had already scanned 26,000 records.

In addition, the library has undergone a $3 million face-lift inrecent years, restoring its crystal chandeliers and wooden floorswhile installing a new heating, ventilation, and air conditioningsystem throughout the building.

Trask, the Danvers archivist, lauded the library's decision tomove toward online services, but questioned the planning process, andspecifically the amount of time it would take to digitize thecollection.

"They could have 100 technicians working several hours a day andit would still take several lifetimes for a significant amount ofmaterial to be put on the Internet," he said.

Steven Rosenberg can be reached at rosenberg@globe.com.