Ombudsman Arlene Brock has recommended that the director of Bermuda Archives be moved to a less front line role after an investigation which found evidence of maladministration.

Ms Brock told a press conference yesterday she believed Karla Hayward ought to focus on the modern records section at the Archives, which she said could mean less contact with staff and users.

If the Cabinet Office decides to implement the recommendation, a "mentor manager" could be brought in to head up the Archives rather than Ms Hayward, who comes in for criticism in a damning report delivered by the Ombudsman to MPs last Friday. A lengthy rebuttal from Ms Hayward is included in the document, which the director says she feels "contains personal and professional character assassinations".

The Royal Gazette can reveal that two professional archivists — one from Canada and one from the UK — are set to leave the official repository for Government records in the next two months.

The departure of the two men will follow that of British archivist Christine Walker, who left her $100,000-a-year role as deputy director of the Archives in January, allegedly because she couldn't work with Ms Hayward.

Ms Brock's report discusses high staff turnover at the Archives, revealing that there have been 13 formal grievances from six staff in the past decade. Ms Hayward's rebuttal says she is only aware of three staff who have submitted grievances.

Cabinet Secretary Marc Telemaque said yesterday that Ms Hayward remained director of the Archives and that a new assistant director would "shortly be on board", meaning there will be just two qualified archivists working in the basement of the Government Administration Building.

Ms Brock launched her inquiry into the Archives last November after receiving six complaints herself and becoming aware of "a number of complaints at various levels".

Local and overseas users claimed material was being withheld from the public for no reason.

The Ombudsman discussed her findings at length yesterday, telling reporters: "When people who have dedicated their lives to promoting Bermuda's heritage say that they have given up on using the Archives, we have to pay attention.

"When a senior civil servant, who tried in the past to improve internal processes, described that intervention as 'psychological warfare' then clearly something is not quite right.

"When staff were willing to swear on oath that they had been instructed not to reveal certain information to the public, then it became obvious that complainants were not just making it all up."

Her 162-page report outlines concerns about "unclear and inconsistent policies, inadequate and outdated research tools and arbitrary assistance and selective cordiality".

She says in her introduction: "Inevitably, when people complain about the Archives, they often are complaining about the director. It does get personal.

"The fact that there are personal complaints is not a good reason to bury our collective heads in the sand and pretend there are no problems."

Many of the paragraphs in Ms Hayward's rebuttal have been removed by Ms Brock.

The Ombudsman said yesterday they contained "adverse statements" about people and she did not feel it was her role to share them with the public.

Ms Hayward says in her response she does not dispute many of the Ombudsman's recommendations but does not feel she needs to be mentored or managed.

The director says: "I personally regret and apologise for any unpleasant experience any researcher may have had in the Archives. A different picture emerges when their experiences are placed in the context of the many thousands of researchers who have used the Archives in the past ten years and have apparently been perfectly satisfied."

• See tomorrow's edition of The Royal Gazette for detailed coverage of the report.