Did you know that most Australian books ever written are now out-of-print? This mean important local histories, beloved children’s titles and even some of the books that won big literary prizes can’t be purchased.
Untapped: The Australian Literary Heritage Project aims to change that. Untapped is a collaboration between authors, libraries and researchers who have been working to identify Australia’s lost books, and find ways to bring them to readers. Through digitisation, Untapped shines renewed light on books that have been published in the past but are now out-of-print. The books are produced in eBook format, and are available for borrowing from libraries as well as for purchase. As such, Untapped creates a new income source for Australian authors, who currently have few options for getting their out-of-print titles available in libraries.
The Untapped collection comprises wide range of genres and forms, including novels, histories, memoirs, and poetry. The list offers more than 150 titles from literary giants and popular authors such as Thea Astley, Ivan Southall, Libby Gleeson, Isobelle Carmody, Katherine Susannah Prichard, Garry Disher, Rosalie Ham, Jackie French and Anita Heiss — to name a few. While some books in Untapped’s collection are older, others were published this century. You can explore the full list here.
Margaret Allen, CEO and State Librarian of WA, said at the time of the Untapped launch, ‘Libraries have always offered readers the long tail of works from much loved writers in addition to the best sellers and front list titles you will find in your local bookshop. When readers discover an author, they want to experience the full range of their writing not just their later works, and that’s where the depth of a library collection really comes into its own’.
Untapped has been made possible through the support of library platform providers Bolinda Borrowbox, IndyReads and Overdrive. Bolinda has generously agreed to waive its commission in support of the project and, as part of the State Library of NSW, IndyReads does not charge commission, ensuring that more funding provided by libraries goes directly through to authors.
Untapped isn’t just about rescuing culturally important lost books: they are also conducting vital research into the economic value of library promotion of books, the relationship between library lending and ebook sales, and the value of reverted copyrights to authors. The success of this research depends on libraries letting Untapped know how they’re promoting these books. You can find more information for libraries here.