Most Australian books ever written are now out of print and unavailable to readers. That includes local histories and memoirs, beloved children’s titles and even winners of our most glittering literary prizes.
Untapped was a collaboration between authors, libraries and researchers, working together to identify Australia’s lost literary treasures and bring them back to life. The projectultimatelydigitised and re-published 161 culturally important out-of-print Australian titles spanning literary and genre fiction, memoirs, histories, poetry and plays, and including award-winning titles from some of the Australia’s most beloved writers. All titles were licensed to public libraries around the country and made available for sale as ebooks. The collection was popular enough that we also managed to subsequently republish 148 of these titles in new print editions. A complete list of published titles can be found on our publishing partner Ligature’s website.
The Untappedinitiative generated around $120,000 in additional income for authors in the project’s first 12 months. It has also supported vital research into the economic value of out-of-print rights for authors, the value of libraries’ book promotion efforts, and the relationship between library lending and book sales. These results will feed public policy discussions about how we can best support Australian authors and our literary culture.
The Untapped project revealed:
- No evidence that library lending of Untapped’s ebooks negatively affected sales of the same titles and some evidence that it increased sales for certain titles.
- Substantial unmet public demand to borrow and buy the Untappedtitles as ebooks.
- Library promotional activities had a valuable ability to influence the books borrowed by readers.
- Re-publication of these culturally important previously out-of-print titles opened up new streams of income for authors.
- Participating authors and heirs also reported substantial non-economic benefits from the project.
- Authors faced a wide range of obstacles in reclaiming their rights to out-of-print titles.
- Library control of elending infrastructure could improve access to data and help direct more money to authors and publishers.
Untapped Potential: Results from the Australian Literary Heritage Project
Paul Crosby, Tessa Barrington, Airlie Lawson, Rebecca Giblin
Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia, October 2024
This report presents Untapped’s key research findings regarding: the relationship between library elending and ebook sales; the impact of promotional activities undertaken by libraries on the circulation of ebooks; the economic value of culturally important but previously out-of-print books; and the personal and economic value to authors of the ongoing dissemination of these works.
Reversion in Practice: The Case for Minimum Mandatory Reversion Rights
Airlie Lawson, Tessa Barrington and Rebecca Giblin
Manuscript in preparation
This paper will report on the obstacles faced by authors when they seek to revert their copyrights in practice, including: difficulties faced in ascertaining their reversion rights; challenges in identifying the rightsholder; and high transaction costs involved in pursuing contractual reversion processes.
Does Library E-lending Cannibalise Ebook Sales? Evidence from a Novel Experiment
Paul Crosby, Dylan Thompson and Rebecca Giblin
Manuscript in preparation
Using data collected during the Untapped project, this paper will present an economic analysis of the relationship between elending and retail ebook sales for 161 culturally significant titles. Its findings show no evidence that library elending harms ebook sales.
The Untapped project received coverage by The Guardian following its launch and after its preliminary findings were released:
Untapped received support through collaborations and partnerships with:
- State Library of Westeran Australia
- State Library of Victoria
- State Library of New South Wales
- State Library of Queensland
- Libraries Tasmania
- Libraries Australian Capital Territory
- Libraries South Australia
- Australian Society of Authors (ASA)
- Ligature
- National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA)
- Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA)
The project was led by Professor Rebecca Giblin (Melbourne Law School). The research team also included chief investigator Dr Paul Crosby (Macquarie University), postdoctoral fellow Dr Airlie Lawson (Melbourne Law School), and research assistant Tessa Barrington (Melbourne Law School).
Untapped’s steering group encompassed Margaret Allen PSM (CEO and State Librarian of Western Australia), Olivia Lanchester (Former CEO of the Australian Society of Authors), Sue McKerracher (Former CEO of the Australian Library and Information Association) and Matt Rubinstien (Director of Ligature Press).
The title selection panel were Andrew Black (State Library of Western Australia), Antoinette Buchanan (ACT Libraries), Ian Morrison (Libraries Tasmania), Jenelle Colston-Ing (State Library of Victoria), Jane Gibian (State Library of NSW), Robyn Hamilton (State Library of Queensland) and Helen Kwaka (Public Library Services South Australia).