Top writers benefiting from a new scheme of royalty payments from borrowed library books are likely to be headed by JK Rowling with her latest Harry Potter book.
The introduction of a public lending right payments scheme will benefit the most popular authors. The Intellectual Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill is scheduled to come before the Dáil in the autumn.
A spokesman for the Library Council of Ireland said it will have to set up a data bank to administer the new system.
All library systems were computerised but they were not set to provide this sort of information yet, he said. With the new system, the council would collect information on the monetary aspect and public lending, and at the end of the year or public lending period it would work out payments.
In Britain, a £6,000 ceiling is put on each author and for every book lent the writer receives 5p. The Irish system is expected to be similar.
Although State statistics are not available, Dublin City Public Libraries provided a list of book requests for this month.
Topping the list of authors was JK Rowling with 135 requests for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Others include Nora, a Biography of Nora Joyce by Brenda Maddox with 30, Michael Crichton's State of Fear with 27, Mao the Unknown Story by Chang Jung with 26, and Saturday by Ian McEwan with 22.
The second most sought-after publications are the Department of the Environment's official theory test for learner drivers and the PC CD-Rom of the official driver theory test.
The most popular authors of 2004 at Dublin libraries included: Cecelia Ahern, Jonathan Kellerman, Ian McEwan, Colm Tóibín, Nell McCafferty, Bill Cullen, Jenny Pitman, Gillian McKeith, Darren Shan, Eoin Colfer, Frances Simon, Maeve Binchy, Anthony Beevor, Dan Brown, Patricia Scanlan, Sheila O'Flanagan, Marian Keyes, Sheila Hancock, Michael Palin, Terry Pratchett, JK Rowling, Lemony Snicket, Robert Harris, Nuala O'Faolain, Claudia Carroll, Cathy Kelly, Deirdre Purcell, John Grisham and John McGahern.
Deputy Dublin city librarian Margaret Hayes said lists were based on verbal reports from library managers. The new royalty system would probably be based on 2005 figures which would be collated through the year, she said.
Dublin City Libraries last year lent 802,738 adult fiction books, 737,030 adult non-fiction books and 506,477 children's books.