Questions and answers

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 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 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 is resurveyed.

The Educational Lending Right (ELR) program is administered under the ELR Policies and Procedures 2011.

The Public Lending Right (PLR) program is administered under the Public Lending Right Act 1985 and the Public Lending Right Scheme 1997.

Yes, you can choose to use your literary agent as your contact and/or to receive your payments. If you are a new claimant, you can use the Creator Registration through Literary Agent form to register.

If you are an existing claimant and now wish to use your literary agent as your contact or to receive your payments, please notify our Lending Rights team via email or post. We cannot accept changes to your contact or banking details over the phone.

If you have given them authority to do so, your literary agent can submit title claims on your behalf but they can’t change your contact or banking details.

No. Due to privacy laws, we must receive notification of your changes to your contact and banking details from you - the registered person.

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

No, back payments will not be made for books not claimed in previous program years.

The following items are not eligible for PLR and ELR:

• electronic resources, such as audio visual kits, compact discs, electronic books, DVDs and talking books
• magazines and other serial publications
• games or cards
• books designed for a single-use, such as activity books, sticker books or workbooks
• any other item without an International Standard Book Number (ISBN).

No. Creators must have an ongoing financial interest in the book (that is, a right to royalties) to be eligible for lending rights.

If you are an existing claimant, please contact the Lending Rights team for a password to Lending Rights Online.

New claimants will be able to receive a password for Lending Rights Online only after their registration has been processed and they have been issued with a lending rights claimant number.

You can change your password through Lending Rights Online. You will need to answer the security questions you have set up for your Lending Rights Online log-in in order to change your password.

You can also contact the Lending Rights team via phone or email to have your password reset.

Yes, security questions can be reset by contacting Lending Rights.

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve Lending Rights Online, we have recently added the ability for you to view claims you have already submitted online after 8 March 2012.

You can find your claimant number on your PLR or ELR payment advice statements. You can also ask the Lending Rights team.

No, you do not need to submit another title claim for that book unless a revised edition with a new ISBN is published.

Your payment advice statements list books that were included in the year surveyed and books that that have carried a score of 50 or more from a previous year.

Your payment advice will not list books that have dropped out of the survey cycle due to low scores. They will not be surveyed again unless you publish a new edition and submit a new claim.

Historical payment advice statements are available through Lending Rights Online.

You can find your book's BRN on a payment advice statement. If you are unable to find the BRN, or have not yet received it, you can leave this section blank.

We do not acknowledge title claim forms sent to us via post or email. You will receive an automatic acknowledgment if you submit a title claim through Lending Rights Online.

No, you need to submit only one title claim form for each title. Your publisher might not know that you have already submitted a title claim for the book.

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 the title totaling 100 per cent.

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:

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) or 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 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.

There is a minimum payment amount of $100 for the PLR and ELR programs. A creator or publisher will receive a PLR or ELR payment only if the total amount due to them for all eligible books claimed under that scheme is above this threshold.

If you are registered for both PLR and ELR, your payment advice envelope will contain a separate letter and statement for each scheme.

The letter and statement printed on white paper relate to your PLR payment. The letter and statement printed on coloured paper relate to your ELR payment.

If you are also registered as a self-publisher, you will receive payment advice letters as the creator and as the publisher.

Payment advice statements are 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.

You can view previous statements including the current statement via on Lending Rights Online.

No, we cannot split payments.

We make payments by direct deposit into Australian financial institutions.

If you are unable to provide an Australian bank account please contact Lending Rights by email at lendingrights [at] arts.gov.au or call 1800 672 842.

If an eligible creator has not made a claim, then you won’t be paid.

In this case your PLR payment advice statement will show your payment due for that book as 'NIL' and your ELR payment advice statement will show your equivalent number of copies for that book as 'NIL'.

No, we are a separate agency to the Copyright Agency. You will need to claim for lending rights separately. You can find more information about CAL at the Copyright Agency website.

No, payments are only made to living creators and publishers of works by living creators.

As an exception, a final payment may be made in the program year in which a creator has died.