A COUNCIL staffer who worked at the Fremantle History Centre for 13 years has been let go as part of cutbacks to the library service.

Council community development manager Beverley Bone says general library staff will now assist customers enquiring about local history, and an appointment can be made for those who have more complex questions.

“The city recently reviewed its library operations and made changes based on changing customer needs,” she says.

“All of these changes were made to encourage greater community participation and interaction with our services and to ensure staff resources were matched with customer demand.”

Fremantle society president John Dowson says the the history centre is one of the best in WA and is concerned that valuable expertise will be lost.

“Why would you change something that’s working very well,” he says.

The city has started digitising its history collection, making many of the resources available online.

It also recently introduced the Spydus management system, which allows customers to access all library resources from a single platform, where they can search for books, download e-books and access historical images.

by ALICE ANGELONI