Public lending right scheme for authors to be reviewed after bungle

Tuesday, 3 March 2026

Internal Affairs Minister Brooke Van Velden has promised that New Zealand authors who missed out on public lending right money late last year due to an administrative bungle will be paid.

The National Library previously admitted that, due to an email sent out in error in July 2025, 318 authors were told they were registered for the public lending right last year, when in fact they were not.

This meant an unknown portion of eligible authors in that group were not paid in mid-December, when 1248 other eligible authors were paid.

The error only affected the 2025 year, according to the Department of Internal Affairs’ director of strategy, regulatory and support Helen Jamison.

The public lending right, established in 2008 to replace the New Zealand authors’ fund, provides payments to New Zealand authors, illustrators and editors, in recognition of the fact their books are available in libraries.

Registered authors are entitled to receive an annual payment based on the number of copies of their titles that are held in New Zealand libraries. Numbers are confirmed by surveying.

Since the error, Van Velden had directed the National Library to resolve the issue and make improvements to the system to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

“Authors affected by the error would be frustrated they have not been paid, and rightly so,” she said. “I have made it clear this does not meet my expectations for the National Library.”

Van Velden met with National Librarian Rachel Esson in the New Year.

“The issue will be rectified, and eligible authors will be paid,” Van Velden said.

“I have asked officials to communicate regularly with all impacted authors, conduct a review into what went wrong, and provide me with assurance this will not happen again.”

The issue was identified in late December, after the annual fund was paid out, when authors inquired with the library.

Jamison said human error meant a filter to exclude unregistered authors was not ticked.

“As soon as possible, we contacted all authors potentially affected … to inform them of the issue. We followed-up in mid-January, advising we were still working through the issue, and let them know we would contact them again as decisions are made,” Jamison said.

“The pending holiday period made the timing of this news difficult, and we acknowledge that.”

The library was now reviewing its administrative processes, and the scheme itself, to prevent the error from happening again. The results of the review will be shared with interested parties once complete.

The registration period for 2026 ended on March 1, and the library has manually been sending confirmation of registration to authors.

Anna Mackenzie, chairperson of the public lending right advisory group and one of two NZ Society of Authors’ members on that committee, said the society was delighted that authors who missed out will receive back-payments.

The public lending right scheme, and its relevant legislation and administration, were “seriously outdated”, Mackenzie said.

The vast majority of authors struggle to make a living, with most supplementing their writing income with other work.

The average income from writing of authors across New Zealand was about $16,400, Mackenzie said. Annual public lending right payments could provide a significant boost to royalty income, she added.

“Whether the annual payment is a few hundred or a few thousand dollars, it also represents recognition of the effort and commitment of our writing community.”

On the downside, many authors were ineligible due to restrictions built into the scheme.

Digital books, school libraries, and the Blind and Low Vision Library are all not included, for example.

These, along with other restrictions, severely impact the scheme’s effectiveness and fairness, Mackenzie said. “We have been assured that a review of the legislation is a priority, and we will welcome it whole-heartedly.”