News

5/8/2022
A message from the NewSPAL trustees:

A major landmark has been reached.
NewSPAL will open for operations on 22 August 2022
This will be almost exactly five years since Surrey Libraries first announced their proposals to close down the Surrey Performing Arts Library (SPAL) and disperse the collection - the event which triggered the user-led movement to find a better long-term sustainable future for the SPAL collection.

How did we get here?
In January 2018 NewSPAL was formed, by a group of determined volunteers who agreed to become the first trustees, as a charitable incorporated organisation with a view to taking over the management of the SPAL collection.

Many of you will have been involved, in one way or another, since those early days. The strength of feeling evidenced by the large turn-out at the public meetings we organised - with Surrey Libraries staff and Surrey councillors present - certainly caught their attention. The consultation meetings we held with users demonstrated that there would be support for what we were trying to do. The large but rather unlikely looking group of "revolutionaries" who attended a Surrey County Council meeting in Kingston in June 2018 wearing blue T-shirts emblazoned with "Save SPAL for the community" gave the campaign a real boost. After we produced a very detailed business plan (November 2018), and after another public consultation insisted on by Surrey (December 2018), Surrey's Cabinet finally gave their go-ahead in February 2019.

Of course, we had been promised the use of an excellent building in Woking in which to create a new library - with room to expand the collection and space for activities. Then COVID happened - disrupting all our plans for over a year. Worse was to follow. In September 2021, after a change of executive leadership at Woking Borough Council and in the light of the adverse effect of (in particular) the pandemic on that council's finances Woking withdrew their offer of support and let out "our" building (for which planning permission had already been given) to a commercial tenant.

By that time, we had raised a considerable amount of money in donations from many generous individuals and user groups, and a small number of grant-giving bodies. With that money we had already acquired the specialist library management systems we needed and, with the help of a small army of wonderful volunteers, re-catalogued the whole SPAL sets collection and started improving the quality of information on the catalogue for the other individual items (books, scores, chamber and sheet music). We could not give up - we needed to find a different way forward. Surrey Libraries fortunately responded positively to a formal proposal we made to them to take over the management of the SPAL collection in the space at Ewell Library (Bourne Hall) which it currently occupies. This has avoided the considerable cost and disruption of moving everything to a new building. This is for an initial trial period of two years during which we need to demonstrate that NewSPAL can be entirely self-financing (through membership fees and hire charges). With the benefits of being a charity and being free to open up membership regionally and nationally (not limited to Surrey) we are confident that we can make it a success.

What happens now?
The first few weeks of transition are bound to be a bit challenging. Our excellent new Library Manager (Neil Collins) and Deputy Library Manager (Dimitri Chrysostomou), supported by our hugely dedicated and committed volunteers, are all working hard to make sure that the transition is as smooth as possible for users - particularly for user groups who have reserved sets for collection this month and next. We are concentrating on them first, before starting to promote the new service more widely. To enable this work to be given priority, we will not be opening the library to public visiting until after the August Bank Holiday. But after that, if you have a chance, come in and see how it looks.

What changes?
Inevitably there are some things which will change. The main ones are:

The catalogue will be available online, 24 hours per day, for searching, booking and paying for borrowed items. Although the library staff will be available (during library opening hours) to provide assistance, the online system should be very much more efficient for everyone.
NewSPAL is completely independent from Surrey Libraries and so we cannot offer the old option to collect from, and return to, other Surrey (and West Sussex) libraries. On the other hand, for choral, orchestral and drama sets we will be able to offer delivery by courier for those users for whom that is more convenient than coming to Ewell.
All borrowers (groups and individuals) will need to be registered members of NewSPAL (easy to do online through the website) and, because we receive no public funding of any kind, everyone will have to contribute something to use the service. There will be a modest annual membership fee for individuals (but then no charge for borrowing books, scores and chamber music). For groups, there will be a one-off registration fee but then no further annual subscriptions. Having registered, user groups will be able to hire sets on a "pay as you go" basis. The courier charges (for those who wish to use that service) will be at cost. We will aim to keep charges as low as possible consistent with ensuring that the charity is financially sustainable in the long-term. Any surplus income will be ploughed back into adding new (or replacement) stock and in expanding the service.

A big thank you
Sometime in the Autumn, after the very busy initial transition period, we plan to hold a launch event to celebrate the important landmark we have just reached. More about that in a later newsletter.

There are too many individuals and groups who have supported us (and continue to do so) to thank personally in this newsletter - but, whether you have donated money or music, attended the public meetings (with or without the blue T-shirt!), written letters of support, volunteered in one way or another, attended a fund-raising concert, or simply been with us along the journey - all of us (your trustees) offer the most heartfelt and sincere thanks. Oh, and don't stop supporting us - now is the time when we need some more volunteers to help in the library and for everyone to start spreading the word. NewSPAL is open for business.

Trustees of New Surrey Performing Arts Library:

Mark Welling (Chair)
Paul McKay (Honorary Secretary)        Kate McWhirter (Honorary Treasurer)
Carol Hall          Sharon Moloney           Ges Ray             Anna Wright

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