Educational Lending Right (ELR) School Library Survey
Supporting Australian authors, creators and publishers
The Australian Lending Right Schemes are important programs that ensure Australian creators and publishers receive compensation for the free use of their books in Australian public and educational lending libraries. The Schemes, managed by the Australian Government’s Office for the Arts, have two components, Educational Lending Right (ELR) for school, TAFE and university libraries, and Public Lending Right (PLR), for public libraries.
Education Services Australia (ESA) delivers the Great Aussie Book Count, for the ELR Scheme, which focuses on Australian school libraries. Each year, around 1,000 schools across a broad selection of primary, secondary, and F–12 government, Catholic and Independent schools from across all states and territories, are invited to participate.
Learn more about the Educational Lending Right scheme with Australian Children's Laureate Gabrielle Wang
https://www.youtube.com/embed/KD52Q1gKo38
School Participation
If selected to participate, your school will be assisting to estimate how many books by Australian authors are held in libraries across Australian schools. It starts with a list of eligible book titles, which are then cross-referenced with the book counts from participating school libraries, and then it is extrapolated how many copies of that title there would be across all schools.
ELR Resources
Help raise awareness about the Educational Lending Right scheme by downloading our poster and displaying it in yout school.
ELR Poster PR
Australian book creators and publishers
The ELR Scheme helps financially compensate Australian content creators, so they can continue to create more amazing books to help shape the minds of future generations. More than 18,100 individual lending right payments totalling $26.6 million were paid in 2023-24.
Frequently asked questions
How can my school be involved in the survey?
Each year, a representative sample of schools is invited to participate in the ELR school library survey. Schools Australia-wide are approached from September to October to take part in the survey. Survey is to be completed during the month of November.
How does the School Library Survey work?
The ELR survey software has been developed in collaboration with library software vendors and is designed to run in the school library automation system. The survey software counts the number of copies of selected book titles held in the school library catalogue. The privacy and confidentiality of schools’ data and records are rigorously maintained. The final survey results provide an estimated 'score' for the number of copies of each title held in all school libraries in Australia. These figures are passed on to the Office for the Arts, who calculate payments to book creators and publishers.
How much time will be required to complete the survey?
In most cases, initiating the process and returning the results should take less than ten minutes. The time the software takes to extract results varies, depending on your library management system. For some schools the library system vendor will extract the bibliographic data, and all you do is provide a back-up file. Survey is to be completed during the month of November.
How will the privacy of my school data be protected?
The privacy and intellectual property rights of all schools will be rigorously maintained in the manipulation and storage of data. No individual libraries will be identified in the final survey results. All school data held at Education Services Australia for the purposes of the survey is destroyed once the survey process has been completed.
Why was my school chosen to participate in this survey?
The ELR school library survey is a representative sample survey in which schools all over Australia may be considered for participation. Your school was randomly chosen in consultation with your library system vendor to represent your type of school in your state and/or region. Selection was undertaken with the approval of relevant education authorities
How will completing the survey benefit my school community?
By completing the survey, you are supporting the growth of Australian writing and publishing. Australian schools rely on up to date bibliographic resources produced in Australia. Many Australian authors, illustrators, publishers, compilers and translators rely on ELR payments to continue creating new resources.
What is SCIS and how can I submit my titles for cataloguing?
SCIS is a central cataloguing agency that creates high quality, consistent catalogue records for school libraries. Access to the SCIS database means that cataloguing effort is not duplicated across schools, improving efficiency and reducing costs. Using SCIS catalogue records also improves search and discovery in school library catalogues, making content discoverable for students and staff.
If you would like to submit your titles to SCIS for cataloguing, please contact [email protected].