Issue 132

The Australian Government’s Lending Rights scheme sees Australian authors, illustrators, and publishers compensated for the free use of their books held in educational and public libraries. 2024 was the 25th year that ESA has had the pleasure of delivering this survey on behalf of the Australian Government’s Office for the Arts.

Libraries participating in this survey spend 5 to 10 minutes downloading a report file that has been set up by their library management system (LMS) provider. In some cases, schools may not even be aware that they have been involved. To reduce the burden on staff, LMS providers may complete the download on their behalf.

For the schools that do assist directly, ESA aims to give something back. As schools submit their results, they are entered into a competition to win a gift card to spend on their library. This year, in addition to the gift card for one school, two other schools received book packs sponsored by the team at SCIS.

The winner of the $150 Dymocks Book eVoucher was Manor Lakes P–12 College. Rebecca Lunson, Library Manager at the school, shared:

"We are very humbled to be 1st place winners. Our college has over 3,000 students, and our library is currently only accessible to our high school students. From next year, our primary students will have the opportunity to borrow from our library, which is going to be super exciting. We will use the winning prize to purchase some new books. As the students love coming and asking for different genres they would like to read, [the new books] will make a lovely addition to the new library that we are currently having renovated."

The schools that won a book pack this year were Solomontown Primary School and St Brendan-Shaw College.

Kylie Reid, Librarian at St Brendan-Shaw College, shared her experience with ELR 2024, saying that "downloading the report from our AccessIt system was quick and straightforward."

Colleen Jebb from Solomontown Primary School in SA added, "As a first-time librarian doing the survey, the instructions were easy to understand and follow. The contact I had with staff regarding the ELR was very helpful and kind. Finding out we had won a prize for our site was wonderful, and I would definitely be participating in further surveys and recommend others to do so."

Congratulations to this year’s winners, and a big thank you to all who participated!

Article by Education Services Australia