Issue 91

Each year, Educational Lending Right (ELR), an Australian Government cultural program, makes payments to thousands of book creators across Australia. These payments compensate Australian book creators and publishers for income potentially lost as a result of their books being available for loan in educational lending libraries. As numerous Australian authors and illustrators have attested, ELR enables them to continue doing what they do best–creating great books.

Libraries and library staff: ELR's cornerstone

600 schools have now been selected to participate in the 2014-15 school library survey. The survey collects data to estimate how many copies of particular titles are held in Australian school libraries. This data is used to determine appropriate payments for book creators.

Selected schools have been mailed an ELR invitation package designed to make the data-extraction process efficient, painless, and easy to follow. The pack contains an invitation letter, explanatory flyer, and step-by-step instructions on how to extract the book data from their library management system.

School library staff play a critical part in the data-collection process–without their assistance to extract the book count data from their library management systems, ELR would not be possible.

Feedback from participants

We encourage all participating schools to provide us with feedback about their experience, via a quick online form, to enable us to improve future ELR surveys.

Australian authors and illustrators value school libraries

When a school is invited to participate in the ELR school library survey, it is a fantastic opportunity to directly support Australian book creators and publishers. Many authors and illustrators have told us how much they appreciate the support they have received from school libraries, both as students and as book creators.

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A message from Will Kostakis

'I wouldn't be where I am today without the supportive library staff at my school. Growing up, they nurtured my love of reading with recommendations and encouragement, not only to read widely, but beyond what I thought I was capable of. They nurtured my writing with pointed feedback and warm advice... and more reading recommendations. They opened my eyes to a world beyond my own, and when I was inspired to write, they pushed me to be the best I can be. And they still do, because their effects have been lasting.'

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We have published some more of these statements in previous issues of Connections and on the ELR website.

Image credit:

• Will Kostakis. Photography by Marina Pliatsikas.