The Public Lending Right (PLR) pays royalties to authors according to how many times library members borrow their books.
Each year the PLR announces the most borrowed books and authors of the year.
The most borrowed author in 2008/09 was James Patterson, followed by Daisy Meadows.
The most borrowed adult fiction book was James Patterson's Sail. The most borrowed children's book was Francesca Simon's Horrid Henry and the Football Fiend. Delia Smith's How to Cheat at Cooking was the most borrowed non-fiction title.
For more details about how the data is collected you can go to the Public Lending Right (PLR) website.