Of course I think that researchers should have free access to the collections as a core service of a public cultural collection. That's their raison d'etre. It should go without saying.But I can't help also feeling that there is a two-class system in place, and all of a sudden these researchers have seen what it's like to be in the non-favoured-class...
In the wiki-verse, and indeed any online user of public cultural collections, we're very very used to being told that our access requests will incur a fee (e.g. to get access high-resolution copy of an already digitised public-domain image) - even when requests to access the same object in-person would be considered a free service.
Obviously, operating a physical institution that accommodates access to the collection (e.g. a reading-room in a research-library with all the lights, heating, security, staffing...) is an expensive service to operate, but it is considered an important service to provide for free to the public. Yet, the much cheaper operating cost of providing a digital access service (an online database) is considered to be a different class of access-request. Online access-requests are frequently, not always, considered an opportunity for the institution to make money, whereas physical access requests are considered core-business. I think that this is underpinned by a culture that makes a value-judgement about what is the "right" kind of access.