To conclude our series of articles on the 2020 ASA Survey Results, this week we are reporting on Digital Lending Rights, and the universal support for the modernisation of our PLR/ELR payment schemes.

As you may know, the Public Lending Right and Educational Lending Right payment schemes were established in 1975 and 2000 following successful campaigning by the ASA. These schemes are intended to compensate creators for lost royalties when physical print books are borrowed from a library for free.

For many authors, these payments are a crucial additional source of income. Indeed, when we asked in the survey how essential PLR/ELR payments are to respondents, of those who receive PLR/ELR, 78.89% indicated they consider these payments highly valuable. 

However, under the current arrangement, the lending rights schemes do not cover digital formats (ebooks or audiobooks). We know that COVID-19 resulted in a shift to digital borrowing and we know that libraries are expanding their ebook and e-audiobook collections. At a time when borrowing of ebooks and audiobooks is rapidly increasing, the case for digital lending rights has never been more compelling. 

In the ASA Survey we asked: Do you wish to see the Public Lending Right and Educational Lending Right schemes expanded to cover digital formats (ebooks and audiobooks)? 99% of respondents who expressed a view on Digital Lending Rights were in favour of expansion of the scheme to cover digital formats.

ASA CEO, Olivia Lanchester says, “The survey results on Digital Lending Rights demonstrate overwhelming evidence of support for change on this issue. We appreciate that ebook and audiobook licensing to libraries is complex, but in our view ebook library lending practices have been set up to replicate print lending practices as much as possible and therefore the policy of compensation to the creators should apply in both worlds. The expansion of the eligibility criteria  for PLR/ELR payments must be made a priority now.”  

We call on our members to join us in our campaign for Digital Lending Rights. Share information about the issue with your network, and contact your local MP to request the expansion of the lending right schemes now. You can find the contact details of your MP here.

Find out more about Digital Lending Rights and our campaign here.

You can read more about the ASA Survey Results in the articles below:

• • ASA Survey Results: Author earnings in Australia

• • ASA Survey Results: Advances and Royalties