Lending Rights distributes distributes over $17 million

The 2006-07 annual report of the Public Lending Right (PLR) scheme has been released, showing detailed figures on the recipients of over $7 million in funds from PLR and $10.4 million from the Educational Lending Right (ELR).
PLR makes payments to eligible authors and publishers whose books are held in public libraries; ELR covers educational libraries. In 2006-07, 626 new claimants registered for the PLR program, 2808 new books were registered and 8866 claims were paid. Payments were made to 8866 creators and publishers under the PLR scheme, and 10,261 creators and publishers under the ELR scheme.
The report charts the 100 highest-scoring books for PLR in the past three and 30 years; the top 100 highest-scoring books in ELR for 2006-07; and the 100 largest payments to publishers.

The top 10 books held in public libraries for the three years 2004-05, 05-06 and 06-07 were:
1. Possum Magic (Mem Fox, Scholastic)
2. Where is the Green Sheep? (Mem Fox, Puffin)
3. Whitethorn (Bryce Courtenay, Penguin)
4. Seven Ancient Wonders (Matthew Reilly, Pan Macmillan)
5. Scarecrow (Matthew Reilly, Pan Macmillan)
6. Flags and Emblems of Australia (Jill B Bruce, S&S)
7. Looking for Alibrandi (Melina Marchetta, Penguin)
8. Dirt Music (Tim Winton, Picador)
9. The Reef (Di Morrissey, Pan)
10. Brother Fish (Bryce Courtenay, Penguin)

The 10 highest scoring books in the ELR scheme for 2006-07 were:
1. Possum Magic (Mem Fox, Scholastic)
2. Wombat Stew (Marcia K Vaughan, Scholastic)
3. Rowan of Rin (Emily Rodda, Scholastic)
4. Hating Alison Ashley (Robin Klein, Puffin)
5. The Paw Thing (Paul Jennings, Puffin)
6. Where the Forest Meets the Sea (Jeannie Baker, Walker Books)
7. Two Weeks With the Queen (Morris Gleitzman, Pan)
8. Playing Beatie Bow (Ruth Park, Puffin)
9. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge (Mem Fox, Scholastic)
10. The Cabbage Patch Fib (Paul Jennings, Puffin)
To obtain a copy of the report, and for more information on PLR and ELR, go to www.environment.gov.au.