Public Lending Rights

Public Lending Rights.

Many Happy Returns to the 1979 Public Lending Right(PLR) Act. We’re celebrating a rather glorious principle this year – namely that the public should be able to borrow books freely from government- funded libraries but the creators of books - ‘lent’ by government -should have a legal right to payment for their ideas, energy and hard work.

The current situation is:
• Not only authors but also illustrators, translators, editors and photographers qualify for payment
• 1400 new authors registered last year for the February 2009 payments (part of a rising trend)
• The current loan rate runs at 5.98p
• 28 countries now have PLR systems
• The Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society is the industry watchdog committed to ensuring payment is forthcoming to registered authors
• Registration must be completed by June 30th each year for payment to be made in the following February.

Those of you who have had books published recently and want the Library systems – in the UK or in the European Union Member States - to take them up should:
• Ask the PLR office for a registration form by telephone: 01642 604699
• Visit the website, www.plr.uk.com ,to apply for registration online.