The government’s new digitisation facility at Newton is due to open to the public early next year as restoration and recovery work continues, following last year’s fire at the Department of Archives in Black Rock, Senator Shantal Munro-Knight has confirmed.
She made the announcement on Tuesday while speaking at the Cultural Extravaganza at the Barbados Museum.
“I’m happy to report that early next year, we will be actually opening the site for the digitalisation at Newton. We call it Carnegie spaceship that is there again, a really purpose-built site that is there,” she said.
Following the fire in June last year, independent investigators made several recommendations.
She said: “Before the end of the first quarter, we should have the fire suppression system… we had to be able to repair that as well. They asked us to improve our monitoring on site so that when there is an emergency, we do have an immediacy in terms of response and a link to the fire service as well, so that has been done. We’ve upgraded all of our camera systems; all of our monitoring systems and stuff have been upgraded. We have also implemented a new inventory system so that will help us better to give account if anything is lost in the future. We’ll be able to see it immediately.”
The minister noted ongoing work to salvage and conserve damaged records.
“The work in terms of trying to unearth some of those records that were destroyed, that were burnt, that we thought were destroyed continues, and right now I can’t say I have a count of how many, but we’re making good progress in terms of those records. So even from since then, that work is ongoing. There’s a specialised team that is working on being able to do that, doing that level of repair.”
Sen Munro-Knight said the government hopes to determine the full extent of the damage by the end of the first quarter.
“By the end of the first quarter, we have ourselves kind of a timeline to do that level of assessment, so of the conservation specialists that are working then to be able to do that, and I will say to you that that work from what I have been told, technically will still go on.”
She explained the restoration process: “Some of the records have to be encased in, I would call it, ice and frozen, depending on the level of damage. Some that we were able to take out immediately because the level of damage was not so great, and then there are some that have to be preserved for a longer time. After that time period, then we’d have to take them out and see what can be extracted, but at least by the end of the first part of next year, we want to be able to do an assessment.”
At the end of the first quarter, the government expects to determine what records can be repaired or sourced elsewhere.
“Whether or not it was deeds, whether or not it was records from plantations, etc., and we’d be able to say then if we were able then to be able to fully repair them, or if we’re not able to. But at the same time, we are putting in place a plan that allows us to be able to see if we can get back the source of those records, so that we don’t lose anything. So whether or not some of those records can be sourced through the UK, etc. — we’re also investigating that angle as well.”
Currently, the Archives Department is not open for general public visits, though researchers can request access.
“It’s still been a site where workmen are going on, but people who want to do research have been requesting, and then therefore we would allow them to come in, but it isn’t fully open to the public, which is why we’ve been really focused on making sure that we go out to the public. So that we don’t deprive the public of, you know, the opportunities to do their level of research.”
(LG)
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