Public Lending Right - guidelines for claimants

Information for Australian creators and publishers

What is Public Lending Right?

Public Lending Right (PLR) is an Australian Government cultural program administered by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.

The Public Lending Right Act 1985 provides the legislative framework for the PLR scheme. For the purposes of the Act, a Public Lending Right Committee is appointed by the Minister to administer the PLR scheme. The Act provides for the gazettal of a PLR scheme by the Minister.

What are the objectives of PLR?

to make payments to eligible Australian creators and publishers on the basis that income is lost from the availability of their books in public lending libraries
to support the enrichment of Australian culture by encouraging the growth and development of Australian writing and publishing.

How does PLR work?

Creators and publishers register for PLR (and/or ELR) at the time of their first title claim.

Payment is determined by the estimated number of copies of eligible books which are held in the Australian public lending libraries. This information is obtained from an annual survey of the books held in a sample of public lending libraries selected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. If 50 or more copies of an eligible book are estimated to be held in Australian public lending libraries a payment may be made.

Books are surveyed annually for three consecutive financial years following their year of publication. If, in the third year, a book is still held in sufficient numbers in public lending libraries, it will be resurveyed every three years. Books scoring less than 50 copies in the third or subsequent surveys are dropped from the survey cycle.

Australia is one of 25 countries, which operate a Public Lending Right program.

Which creators are eligible for PLR?

Eligible creators include:

authors, editors, illustrators, translators and compilers¹;
Australian citizens, wherever they reside; and
non-citizens who normally reside in Australia (eligibility ceases if normal residency in Australia ceases).

Which publishers are eligible for PLR?

publishers whose business consists wholly or substantially of the publication of books and who regularly publish in Australia (‘regularly’ is defined as at least once in the preceding two-year period) are eligible.
Australian non-profit organisations that publish to further their aims or objectives; or
creators who self-publish.

A PLR payment is only made to a publisher where an eligible creator is entitled to payment for the book.

Which books are eligible for PLR?

Eligible books are those that have:

been allocated an International Standard Book Number (ISBN);
been published and offered for sale;
an identifiable creator or creators;
a total number of eligible creators not exceeding five; and
a catalogue record in a national bibliographic database.

PLR does not encompass audio-visual kits, compact discs, computer disks, electronic books, magazines or other serial publications.

Books written by Australian creators may be eligible even if they have not been published in Australia.

Lodging a claim with PLR

Creators or publishers may make a claim by completing an approved claim form and submitting it to the Lending Rights Office before 31 March each year.

Claimants need only submit one claim for a book unless a new edition or version of the book is issued, there are changes to its title, or there are alterations to the number or names of its creators.

The commencing year for a book is the first financial year after the calendar year in which the book was first published. This allows time for new books to become established in public lending libraries. For example, the commencing year for a book first published on or before 31 December 2007 is 2008–09, 2006 is 2007–08.

Claims from creators and publishers are invited by advertisements that appear in national daily newspapers and book industry trade journals each year.

PLR payments

Under the PLR scheme payments may be made to eligible creators and publishers. Separate payment rates are determined each year for creators and publishers, and these are published in the PLR scheme. The PLR rates of payment under the 2006-07 PLR scheme were $1.47 per copy of each eligible book for creators and 36.75 cents per copy of each eligible book for publishers. For the 2006-07 program, 8866 book creators and publishers received PLR payments.

If there is more than one eligible creator of a book, each receives a PLR payment in proportion to their share of the royalty payments.

A limit may be placed on the number of copies of a book that will be counted at individual libraries.

The amount of a PLR payment for a book is calculated by multiplying the relevant PLR rate of payment by the estimated number of copies of the book. For example, if the 2006-07 estimated number of copies of a book was 200, the creator’s PLR payment would be $280 and the publisher’s PLR payment would be $70.

Amounts of less than $50 are not payable

PLR payments are not subject to GST. However, claimants must declare their PLR payments for income tax purposes.

1 Creators who have only received a lump sum or upfront payment from their publisher are not entitled to PLR. If you have received an advance against royalties, you may lodge a title claim provided you are also entitled to receive royalties from the sale of your book. If you have arranged for your royalty payment to be paid to another person/organisation, you must indicate who is receiving your royalty payment.
The PLR Committee may recommend a final payment in the financial year in which a creator died. Following this final payment, books cease to be eligible.

Contacts

Street address
Lending Rights
Burns Centre
28 National Cct
Forrest ACT 2603

Mailing address
Lending Rights
GPO Box 3241
Canberra ACT 2601

Toll free: 1800 672 842
Fax: 02 6275 9658
Email: elr.mail @environment.gov.au
Website: Lending rights

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