Public Lending Remuneration

Details of the 20 books and authors borrowed most often from Irish public libraries in 2018 have been published by the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), which compiles the information as part of the Public Lending Remuneration (PLR) Scheme.

All 20 of the most borrowed titles were children’s books, with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling topping the list. Meanwhile, 19 of the 20 most borrowed authors in 2018 were children’s authors, with only James Patterson bucking the trend to make the list.

James Patterson topped the list of the 20 most popular authors from the adult books collection. Irish author, Mike McCormack won the 2018 International Dublin Literary Award which is organised and sponsored by Dublin City Council for his novel Solar Bones, the most borrowed adult book in 2018.

Four of the top five most borrowed books for adults in 2018 are by Irish authors: Mike McCormack, Graham Norton, Liz Nugent and Marian Keyes.

The 2018 featured book in the Dublin: One City One Book Festival was The Long Gaze Back – An Anthology of Irish Women Writers edited by Sinéad Gleeson, this ranks at number eight in the most borrowed adult books.

A number of titles included in the adult top 20 are from the ‘Healthy Ireland at Your Library’ collection, which is available in all public libraries to support the Government Initiative to improve health and wellbeing.

Tom Enright, Chair of the National Libraries Development Committee said, “Encouraging children to read for enjoyment and learning is central to Our Public Libraries 2022, the national Public Library Strategy, so I am very encouraged to see so many children’s books and authors on the list.”

“The Irish public library collection has over 12 million items available to you completely free, and we are inviting everybody, young and old, to explore what’s on offer,” Tom Enright said. “Whether you want to come in to your library to browse for a book, use the internet, make use of digital equipment, enjoy the community space and wide range of activities, or you would prefer to download an audiobook, eBook, or online newspaper or magazine from your own home, it is all open to you completely free with your library membership,” Tom Enright concluded.

Full details of the most borrowed authors and books are available below.

Contact Brigid Fitzgerald, LGMA Communications Officer bfitzgerald@lgma.ie / 087-6522527

Notes to the Editor The Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) administers the Public Lending Remuneration Scheme in Ireland.  Under the Public Lending Remuneration (PLR) scheme, payment is made to authors, illustrators etc., whose books are borrowed from public libraries. Authors are required to register for Irish PLR and details of books registered are entered into an author/title database and checked against bibliographic databases for accuracy. Authors are required to register each title and each edition of each title for which they are claiming payment.  The PLR loans data from each authority giving details of the number of times each book in their collections is issued during a specified period is provided to the PLR Office.