A library service in Nottingham is celebrating after picking up achievements at a recent awards event.
Nottingham Performing Arts Library Service (NPALS) has taken centre stage in the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres, UK and Ireland (IAML) Awards.
The service operates out of the Radford-Lenton library, and opened in 2016 to lend more than 24,000 copies of plays, 85,000 vocal score and 1,300 orchestral sets across Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derby.
In the awards, the library won the Excellence Award for Music Libraries 2019 for its work to provide music and drama groups with a regional loans service for music scores and play scripts.
Delivery co-ordinator Jude Paton also took home the Personal Achievement Award 2019.
The judges said: “Jude has been instrumental to the success of NPALS, developing its revolutionary library management system and her commitment to her job, going above and beyond the call of duty and initiating some interesting developments is admirable.”
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NPALS is a showcase project for both Nottingham and Leicester city councils, which worked together to transform two subsidised music and drama library services into a single sustainable one, supporting amateur groups across the region.
The service has brought many benefits since opening, including a wider range of stock and 24/7 online ordering and payment, thanks to a bespoke IT system developed in-house – the first fully-integrated online music library IT system in the UK.
Music and drama groups were offered training to help them with the new system, which allows them to reserve sets up to a year in advance.
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More than 6,200 titles and 110,000 copies of music scores and play scripts have been brought together in a former store room at Radford-Lenton Library.
In the first year, 222 groups registered and 11,128 issues were made. That has now increased to 291 groups and 14,946 issues.
Other councils are interested in adopting the model for their own performing arts library services and it’s hoped that it could form the basis of a larger regional or national network of Performing Arts Libraries in the future.
Nigel Hawkins, head of culture and libraries at Nottingham City Council, said: “Congratulations to everyone involved in this award-winning service, particularly Jude.
"NPALS is a winner in every respect. It has been well-received by music and drama groups, who appreciate the wider choice of stock, flexibility of ordering and the attention given to good customer service.
“It’s also cost-effective and forecast to break even within two years, generating enough income to cover ongoing capital costs and paying back its capital investment over five years.”
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