Skip to primary navigation Skip to content

Issue 127

Term 4 2023

The Great Aussie Book Count 2023–24

By Amanda Shay

Educational Lending Right Authors and illustrators Publishers Ebooks audiobooks books Libraries School library staff

The Great Aussie Book Count is taking place in Term 4, 2023. Find out how you can play your part in a great initiative.

When authors and publishers are compensated for the free use of their content in our school libraries, they are able to produce new content for all.

Together with the Australian Government’s Office for the Arts, Education Services Australia (ESA) is currently working with school libraries across Australia to complete the Educational Lending Right (ELR) 2023–24 scheme, also known as the Great Aussie Book Count. Our team may send your school an invitation to participate.

Check your inbox to see if you received an invite to participate

The invite will have instructions on how to participate. It is as simple as creating an export of data from your library management system, and then emailing that to our team here at ESA.

Once we receive that book count data from school libraries all across Australia, our team will process and collate data to provide the Office for the Arts with calculations of how many specific Aussie book titles are on the shelves across Australian libraries.

1. Schools receive invitation to participate in ELR by completeing a 'survey' Schools submit 'ELR Survey' results to ESA. ESA processes the survey results and submits to the department. Department calculates author and publisher payments. Authors and publishers receive payment. Authors encouraged to create more books. Books bring joy to all the children.

Remember the Great Aussie Book Count is just that: a count of how many specific Australian book titles you have in your library.

ESA can’t finalise the book count until all participating schools have submitted their results. Please check your invite for submission dates and instructions.

If you require any assistance, please contact our team at [email protected] or call our helpdesk on 1300 885 092.

Amanda Shay, Seniot Manager, Subscription Services

Amanda Shay

Senior Manager, Subcription Services

Education Services Australia

Education Services Australia has been delivering the Education Lending Right to school libraries since 2000. The Subscription Services support team are here to assist LMS vendors and school library staff throughout Term 4 to collect book count data for ELR. If you have questions or need assistance, the team are just an email away [email protected].