It just got easier for authors to get paid for the use of their books by libraries. But is it enough?

What is the Public Lending Right scheme and why am I hearing about it now?

The Public Lending Right scheme (PLR) is an annual payment to New Zealand authors based on the number of copies of their book(s) held by libraries in Aotearoa. The payments are made on December 31 from an annual, capped government fund of $2.4 million. 

On September 17, minister of internal affairs Brooke van Velden announced changes to the scheme, including:

1. As of January 1, 2025, eligible authors no longer have to reapply every year (they only have to apply the one time); and
2. The timeframe for authors to dispute eligibility and/or the number of books held by libraries is being brought forward to October 18 to November 15 (it used to be the month of November); and
3. The date that authors are notified of the results of the survey (to discover how many of their books are held by libraries/if they’re eligible for payment) will also shift forward to October 18. The minister said the time shifts “will ease pressure on the National Library to process payments in time and provide authors with funding ahead of the Christmas holiday period”.

Are these good changes? 

Yes, and no. 

The change to the registration process is a positive move because having to reapply every year was a headache both for authors and the National Library, which administers the fund. Every year without fail, a clutch of authors would miss the window for application (January 1  to March 1) and miss out on the much-needed cash (a reminder that the average annual income from writing in New Zealand hovers around $15,600, according to a CLNZ Horizon survey done in 2020). 

However, the New Zealand Society of Authors (the NZSA), which has been advocating for this fund since the 1960s, said it was disappointed the minister had “managed to get changes to the regulations which made the administration of the scheme easier, without addressing the inequities and inadequacies that have been under view for seven years”.

In 2017, the NZSA called for an urgent review of the PLR. It was commissioned by the then government in 2020 and culminated in the independent Allen and Clarke report, which found that New Zealand was 20 years behind our major trading partner, Australia, which has digital lending rights, and has had educational lending rights (to compensate for free public access by students to books in school libraries) for decades. No digital or educational lending is compensated in Aotearoa.

The NZSA has been asking for regulations to be updated to change the definition of a book to include digital formats, and the definition of a library to include school libraries. 

The NZSA also has major issues with the funding cap of $2.4m: there have only been two increases to the fund in 40 years, something the NZSA describes as effectively a decades-long wage freeze, given the PLR has not kept up with annual CPI increases. According to the NZSA website,  a more reasonable PLR amount would be $5.9m, which was calculated by looking at Australia and making a pro rata equivalence: in Australia in 2021-22, more than 17,500 individual lending right payments totalling $22.7m were paid. Australia has a population of 26 million; so our PLR pro rata could/should be approximately $5.9m. 

The summary of NZSA requests for changes to the PLR are:

• The introduction of ELR (educational lending rights) to compensate for free access to books in school libraries.
• The introduction of DLR (digital lending rights) to compensate for free access to digital formats: ebooks and audiobooks in public libraries and school libraries.
• A top-up to the Public Lending Right fund. 
• Dispensing with the 50-copy threshold for holdings, especially as libraries are reducing holdings of physical books due to access via digital formats.
• Indexing the fund to annual CPI henceforth so it would no longer fall behind cost of living parity.

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What are the eligibility requirements for authors?

To be eligible for payment, libraries have to collectively hold a minimum of 50 copies of an author’s book (per book – quite rough if libraries held, say, 49 copies); and the author must be eligible to receive a royalty or payment from the sale of that title. 

This doesn’t include ebooks or audiobooks. There are other rules, too:

• Adult books must be at least 48 pages long.
• Children’s books must be at least 24 pages of text or text and illustrations.
• Poetry must be at least 24 pages in length.
• Editors registering must have contributed at least 48 pages to the book they are editing.
• Books must have no more than three authors/contributors.

How is the fund divvied up?

Each year the $2.4m is divided by the total number of copies estimated to be held in New Zealand libraries. This gives “the book rate”, which can vary from year to year based on the number of copies held in libraries – in 2023 it was $5.04. 

The number of copies held is established by an annual, but alternating, survey of a sample of libraries. Every other year libraries are surveyed to find out how many print copies of all books they have. On alternate years libraries are surveyed to catch up just on the new titles purchased. This means that every two years authors will probably notice a change in their payment as all books are re-surveyed and quantities shift. Because only a sample of libraries are surveyed, numbers are only ever estimates (hence the window for authors to dispute results). 

According to the National Library, the surveys reveal a general pattern of increased copies during the first two to three years of a book’s release, then a steady decline after that (as, say, libraries get rid of copies of older books) at a rate of about 30% every year. Children’s books have a steeper rate of decline compared to adult books probably because they have a “harder physical life” (that magical childlike enthusiasm that translates to wear, tear and covers being agitated away from spines).

This is a handy table to show the shifts in the number of eligible and registered authors and the book rate, year on year, between 2014 and 2023. You can see that not all authors who register end up being eligible for the payment (eg in 2023, 1,884 authors registered but only 1,415 got paid).

When did the PLR start and why? 

The New Zealand Society of Authors started the campaign for a fund to compensate authors for the use of their books by libraries in the 1960s, and in 1973, then prime minister Norman Kirk established The New Zealand Authors’ Fund with an amount of $1m annually. This amount was boosted by another $1m under Helen Clark’s government, and then, during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was given $400,000, bringing it to its current $2.4 million. The PLR used to be administered by Creative New Zealand but when, in 2008, the Public Lending Right for New Zealand Authors Bill was passed, the responsibility of the fund was transferred to the National Library, which administers the PLR today. There’s a Public Lending Right Advisory Group that provides policy and administration advice. 

So, how are readers involved? 

Basically if you request local books from your local library, then you’re helping boost numbers of New Zealand books purchased. Your demand for local literature might just tip an author’s book count over from the dreaded 49 to the hallowed 50 and crown them eligible for the PLR.