Lending rights

Public Lending Right (PLR) and Educational Lending Right (ELR) are Australian Government cultural programs which make payments to eligible Australian creators and publishers in recognition that income is lost through the free multiple use of their books in public and educational lending libraries. PLR and ELR also support the enrichment of Australian culture by encouraging the growth and development of Australian writing.

If you are a book publisher or creator—author, editor, illustrator, translator or compiler—you may be eligible for a payment under the PLR and ELR schemes.

If you are new to PLR and ELR read Schemes and guidelines before making a claim.

PLR and ELR have similar eligibility requirements and you can use the same process to register and claim with either or both programs.

Scheme changes

On 18 April 2011 the Minister for the Arts, the Hon Simon Crean MP, approved changes to the Public Lending Right Scheme 1997 and to the Educational Lending Right Policies and Procedures. For further details please refer to the links below:

• Summary of the changes
• Public Lending Right Scheme 1997—Modification 1 of 2011 on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments
• Public Lending Right Scheme 1997 Determination 2011 (No. 1) on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments
• Educational Lending Right Policies and Procedures 2011 (PDF - 188 KB) | (RTF - 2.9 MB)
• Previous copy of the ELR Policies and Procedures: Educational Lending Right Policies and Procedures July 2004 (PDF - 72 KB) | (RTF - 630 KB)

Lending Rights Online Now Available

The easiest way to do business with Lending Rights is through Lending Rights Online (LRO). You can register as a new claimant, update your contact or bank details, submit new title claims and view your payment history using LRO.

As of 13 August 2010, Lending Rights will only acknowledge title claims submitted through LRO. Claimants are also encouraged to make all changes to contact or bank details through LRO, where you may verify the changes online.

We will continue to accept and process title claims and changes to your claimant record (contact and banking details) submitted by email, post and fax, but you will no longer receive an acknowledgement email or card. Changes to your claimant record will be reflected in LRO once they are processed.

Closing date for 2012-13 Lending Right programs

Creators and publishers are invited to submit title claims for the 2012-13 Public and Educational Lending Right programs. The closing date to lodge title claims is 31 March 2012.

A new title claim can be made for books published after 31 December 2006 and before 31 December 2011. Claimants should not submit a new title claim for a book previously registered, unless a new edition of the book is published.

If you do not have a password for Lending Rights Online, please email plr.mail@pmc.gov.au or phone 1800 672 842 to request one.