The Surrey Performing Arts Library (SPAL) has been a non-statutory part of Surrey's library service for many years. The collection is one of the last remaining specialist music collections in the country that is available to the general public and consists of a range of books and audio-visual materials covering dance, theatre, stagecraft, cinema and music, including music scores, orchestral sets and play sets. In February 2019, following a public consultation, Surrey County Council (SCC) Cabinet approved an organisation called NewSPAL to take over the running of the collection. This would allow it to be fully cost neutral to SCC and the Library Service whilst still preserving access to materials for those who use it.
Since then, Surrey Libraries have been working to transfer the Performing Arts Collection, including the Vaughan Williams Collection and the Making Music Kirby Collection, to the charity NewSPAL. We are pleased to announce that we are now ready to transfer the collection and NewSPAL will take over the day to day running from 22 August 2022. To minimise any disruption to borrowers and ensure a smooth handover period, Surrey Libraries ceased loaning items or taking new reservations for the Performing Arts Collection at close of business on Tuesday 9 August 2022.
NewSPAL will begin taking new reservations from Monday 22 August 2022, which will provide time for the library service to hand over ongoing reservations and the management of the collection. During this time, groups and individual borrowers will not be able to reserve, borrow or browse items from the Performing Arts stock.
NewSPAL have their own Library Management System and charging structure, so please refer to their website for the latest information as it becomes available. All reservations that have already been placed with Ewell Library will be actioned either by NewSPAL or Surrey Library Service depending on the date it is due to be collected. NewSPAL will be in contact with all groups who have reservations currently in hand to set up new accounts with them and the hire charges will be paid using their new charging structure.
Groups wishing to place future requests will need to register with NewSPAL from 22 August 2022 to be able to borrow stock from the collection.
To find out more about how NewSPAL will be operating the collection please visit NewSPAL's website: https://www.newspal.org.uk/