Questions and answers | Office for the Arts

After registering with Lending Rights, you can submit title claims as a creator or publisher for the books. These books are surveyed in a sample of either public lending libraries (PLR) or school, TAFE and university libraries (ELR).

Payments are determined by the number of copies of eligible books estimated to be held in public lending libraries or educational lending libraries. If 50 or more copies of an eligible book are estimated to be held in the libraries surveyed for either scheme, then a payment may be made under that program for that book.

Books are surveyed annually for two consecutive financial years following their year of publication. If, in the second year, a book is still held in sufficient numbers in public and/or educational lending libraries, it will be resurveyed at least every three years.

Books with fewer than 50 copies in the second or subsequent survey are resurveyed for one more year before being dropped from the survey cycle. However, if a new title claim is received for a new edition of a book previously claimed and now out of survey, then the book will be resurveyed.

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If your books are available in a national bibliographic database (SCIS or the Australian National Bibliographic Database) you are able to lodge a claim.

Please note that you should not apply to register for PLR/ELR until after your books are published. Incomplete applications (where all required information has not been provided) will be considered ineligible.

So, you've had a book published. As a creator or publisher, there are a few things you should know to ensure that you get everything that you're entitled to receive.

Australian Lending Right schemes

What are they?

Facilitated by the Office for the Arts, the Australian Lending Right Schemes compensate creators and publishers for the free multiple use of their books in Australian public and educational lending libraries. These programs support the enrichment of Australian culture by encouraging the growth and development of Australian writing.

These payments are not the same as those received through Copyright Agency licensing (see section below).

What should I do?

To receive Lending Rights payments, you first need to register as a creator or publisher. If your book is self-published, you should register as both a creator and publisher.

You will need to submit a title claim for your book, which should include details of all editions and formats of your book. If your book is released in a new edition or format, you will need to submit a new claim for each new ISBN. Publisher claims will only receive payments if at least one of the book's creators has also made an eligible claim for the book.

Claims should be submitted after the book is published, and can be submitted up to five years following the year of publication.

For more information on registration, claims and eligibility, see the Australian Lending Right Schemes website.

Legal deposit

What is it?

The National Library of Australia collects one copy of every published work in Australia, under the legal deposit provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. If you are the publisher or self-publisher of a book in Australia, depositing your book is a legal requirement of publication and will also ensure that your book will be eligible for Lending Right title claims. Australian states and territories also have their own legal deposit legislation which you will need to adhere to.

What should I do?

Publishers (including self-publishers) should deposit their publications with the National Library of Australia within one month of publication. For more information on how to do this, visit the National Library website.

Copyright Agency licenses

What are they?

Managed by the Copyright Agency, licensing schemes allow copying and sharing of text, images and survey plans subject to fair payment. This includes statutory licensing, which allows the use of copyright material by government and education sectors, and other 'opt-in' schemes for particular sectors or activities.

Through these licensing schemes, the Copyright Agency receives copyright fees which they distribute to copyright holders for the use of their work.

What should I do?

To receive Copyright Agency license payments, you'll need to become a member of the Copyright Agency. Membership is free. For more information, visit the Copyright Agency website.

Yes, you can choose to use your literary agent as your contact and/or to receive payments on your behalf. If you are a new claimant, you can select the Literary Agent via Lending Rights Online or use the 'Creator Registration through Literary Agent' paper form (available at Australian Lending Right Schemes (ELR/PLR) | Office for the Arts) to register.

If you are an existing claimant and now wish to use your literary agent as your contact or to receive payments, please log onto Lending Rights Online or notify our Lending Rights team via phone, email, or post.

If you have given them authority to do so, your literary agent can submit title claims on your behalf and they can notify Lending Rights when your contact or other details change.

Not without the consent of the claimant. Due to privacy laws and fraud protections, we must receive notification of changes to contact and banking details directly from the registered person, unless there is prior approval for you to act on behalf of the claimant.

If you are a claimant and would like to authorise someone to have access to your account, please contact the Lending Rights team in writing.

If you have power of attorney for a claimant, please contact the Lending Rights team for more information.

Payment notification letters are sent to you each year and payments made into your nominated account. If the notifications or payments are returned to us (bounce) we will place the payment on hold until we receive updated details from you.

To avoid delays in receiving payments, please update banking details before the cut-off date in the notification to ensure payment is made (the notification is usually sent by May each year, with payment in June).

You can update your details by email or on Lending Rights Online.

Banking details cannot be updated by phone.

It is your responsibility to keep your contact, address and bank details up-to-date.

You should put the proportion of royalties that you receive out of the total royalties your publisher pays to creators for this book. This proportion is used when calculating PLR and ELR payments due to you for the book.

For example, if you and another creator each receive an equal royalty rate for a book you worked on together, you would list your percentage entitlement to royalties on your title claim form as '50%'. Alternatively, if you are the sole creator of the book entitled to receive royalties, you would list your percentage entitlement to royalties as '100%'.

You should list all creators receiving royalties for the title (it should total 100 per cent). This is for the purposes of lending right payments and should not include the publisher component of any income derived from the work.

For example, if the two creators that receive royalties for a title, John Smith and Mary Lu, receive a six per cent and a four per cent royalty respectively, you would show the following on your title claim form:

Name	Division of Royalty
John Smith	60%
Mary Lu	40%

For each book you have claimed, we calculate a payment from the survey score i.e. the number of copies of the book estimated to be held in public libraries (for the PLR) and separately in educational libraries (for the ELR).

We then multiply the score by the creator or publisher rate of payment for the current program year. A payment will only be calculated for a book if its survey score is 50 or more copies and if the payment is above the minimum payment amount of $100. If the total payment is below this threshold, your payment advice statement will show the total payment due to you as 'NIL'.

If you are the sole creator or the publisher of a book, you will receive the entire payment for that book. If you are a joint creator, your share of the payment will be determined by the share of royalties you are entitled to receive for the book.

Payment advice statements are usually sent out in May each year. Payments are made by 30 June each year.

Please note that if the Lending Rights team does not have your current banking details, you will not receive your payment. Additionally if the Lending Rights team loses contact with you, your record may be placed on hold and the money withheld.