Welcome to Public Lending Right

Question 1

How do I register for PLR?

If you have contributed to a book which is available to be lent out by public libraries in the UK and the Republic of Ireland you can register for UK and Irish PLR schemes.

Eligible book contributors can register online for both the UK and Irish PLR schemes.

You will be guided through the process of creating an account (if you don’t already have one) and setting up your PLR profile. This process includes verifying your identity.

Alternatively, contact us if you would like an offline account.

Question 2

Am I eligible to claim PLR?

To be eligible for PLR you must meet the following criteria:

be named on a book’s title page or be entitled to a royalty payment from the publisher (please note you do not have to own the copyright)

or

you must have your only home or principal home in the UK or in any of the other countries within the European Economic Area (i.e. EC Member States and Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) at the time of registration (for UK PLR only) or

you may be a resident or citizen of any of the countries within the EEA or UK. If you are not an EEA resident and are applying for Irish PLR as a citizen, you must confirm your citizenship within the EEA (for Irish PLR only)
your material must be registered with a valid ISBN. Please note, the following material types are not eligible:
- Kindle and Audible editions. Amazon operates a closed digital rights management system and has not licensed its books to be available via public libraries in the UK. Kindle and Amazon audible download editions are further complicated as they are published using ASINs
- ISBNs beginning with 123. Kobo registers titles without a valid ISBN with 13 digits beginning with 123 so that they can be added onto their system. These should be treated in the same way as ASINs as these are only relevant to Kobo and are not eligible for PLR.

Question 3

What can I register for PLR?

For both UK and Irish PLR you should register each book and each new edition where it has a different ISBN. New editions include paperbacks, large print, audiobooks and eBooks. Once an ISBN has been registered once you do not need to apply for it again each year.

Audiobooks and eBooks do not qualify for Irish PLR

A book is eligible for PLR registration:

if the book is printed material, it is ‘bound’ i.e. held together by a fixed cover
it has been published (books cannot be registered until published, you should wait until the publication date to apply)
copies of it have been offered for sale
the authorship is personal (i.e. not a company or organisation)
it has an ISBN (International Standard Book Number) which is a 10 or 13 digit number usually printed on the back of the title page or cover.

Material that is not eligible for PLR registration:

books that are wholly or mainly musical scores
newspapers, magazines and journals
Crown Copyright publications
Kindle and Audible editions. Amazon operates a closed digital rights management system and has not licensed its books to be available via public libraries in the UK. Kindle and Amazon audible download editions are further complicated as they are published using ASINs.
ISBNs beginning with 123. Kobo registers titles without a valid ISBN with 13 digits beginning with 123 so that they can be added onto their system. These should be treated in the same way as ASINs as these are only relevant to Kobo and are not eligible for PLR.

Find out how to calculate the share you are eligible for.

Printed book
To qualify for PLR in a printed book you should be named on the title page or be entitled to a royalty payment from the publisher. When two or more contributors are involved, they must divide the PLR between them. This is done on the basis of percentage shares (see below for further details).

Only contributors who are named on the title page of a book and have contributed to the text or illustrations inside the book qualify for registration. Writers of a foreword or short introduction do not qualify if this was their only contribution. Publishers and packagers are not eligible for PLR.

To register printed books you do not have to own the copyright. Prior to including non-print material in the PLR scheme, audio and eBook lending was covered under copyright law. If you have signed over the licensing rights in your audio/eBook to your publisher, you may still register for UK PLR unless the publisher is already charging the library a licence fee to lend out your audio/eBook. PLR is not aware of such licence fees, but we are required to ask you to confirm that, to the best of your knowledge, a licence fee is not payable.

Audiobook
For PLR purposes, although an audiobook can come in a variety of forms, it is only eligible if it would read like a book should the entire content of the recording be printed. In order to be eligible for PLR, an audiobook must:

be a reading of an existing printed book

or

name a narrator/reader, or another contributor who performs the same role of guiding the listener through the performance.

The following audio materials do not qualify for registration:

Amazon audible downloads (digital downloads issued with ASINs)
dramatisations of TV or radio shows or audio material based on TV and radio shows which just contain actors performing their role with no narration in between
recordings of conversations, speeches, interviews and comedy sketches
interactive/multimedia CD-ROMs which require additional software or interactive content in order to use the material. Under the terms of the scheme, this type of material is not deemed to be the equivalent of a printed book (e.g. software providing interactive access to teaching material).

E-books and e-audiobook
Eligibility for eBooks is the same as for print books and eligibility for e-audiobooks is the same as for audiobooks.

Please note, eBooks and eAudiobooks do not qualify for registration with the Irish PLR scheme.

Question 4

Which name should I register with?

If you use a pseudonym you should apply for PLR using your real/legal name. When registering for PLR the ID used for verification must match the name on our records.

You will be able to provide your pseudonym when you register your books, and we will link your registered name and pseudonym on our records.

Question 5

How will I be expected to verify my identity?

When registering online for PLR you will be asked to carry out an online ID verification check. There is an option to skip this stage and complete the ID checks at a later date. Although you will be able to submit your books, they will not be registered to qualify for payments until ID verification has been completed.

This IDV will be carried out using a trusted 3rd party verification service called Yoti. As part of this process you can either upload a picture of your identity document or use a webcam or in-built camera to take a photo.

If you do not wish to use online identity verification you can contact us to discuss the available options.

Question 6

What happens if I can’t contact co-contributors?

Where a co-contributor has died or cannot be located, the remaining contributor(s) may still register a share that reflects their contribution. If similar books have been registered in the past, the same share agreement may stand.

If you are unable to contact the other contributors, you may only apply for a share which you feel reflects your contribution to the book. However, if the other contributors subsequently apply for different shares, we may remove your share until an agreement is reached. If there are other contributors named on the title page who are deceased, not eligible for PLR or do not wish to register, you should still allocate a notional share to reflect their contribution.

Question 7

Can someone else register on my behalf?

It is not possible for someone else to apply on your behalf (e.g. agent, publisher, partner), unless they are acting under a Power of Attorney, in which case we would need to see a copy of the legal documentation.

Question 8

Can I apply for books loaned outside of the UK and Ireland?

The UK PLR office only administers the UK and Irish PLR schemes. However, UK and Irish authors are eligible for payments from the PLR systems operating in a number of other European countries including Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Austria. These payments are administered by ALCS.

Eligible illustrators, photographers and visual artists can apply to claim their share of Dutch PLR payments through the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS). Further information is available from DACS

Find out more about international PLR schemes.

Question 9

Can I claim payments retrospectively?

For both UK and Irish PLR, payments are made annually based on book loans data collected from public libraries over a 12-month period.

In the UK the PLR year runs from 1 July to 30 June. To qualify for payment for loans during this period authors must register their books by the closing date of 30 June. The Irish PLR year runs 1 January to 31 December. Books must be registered by the following 30 June to qualify for payment for loans during this period. Neither PLR scheme allows for retrospective payments to be made for earlier years.

Question 10

Can I apply if I live outside of the UK / Ireland?

To register for the UK PLR scheme, you must have your only home or principal home in the UK, or in any of the other countries within the European Economic Area (i.e. EC Member States and Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) at the time of registration.

Under the provisions of the PLR legislation authors resident in UK overseas territories and Crown dependencies such as the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Gibraltar are not eligible to apply for PLR registration.

If you have more than one home, your principal home is the one where you spent most time during the 24 months before your application. Continuous residence after registration is not a requirement, however if you move outside the UK or European Economic Area (EEA) after registration you may not be able to register any new titles or editions for PLR. Once a book has been registered it will remain on the PLR system and you will continue to receive a statement each year.

To register for the Irish PLR scheme, you may be a resident or citizen of any of the countries within the EEA or UK. If you are not an EEA resident and are applying for Irish PLR as a citizen, you will be asked to confirm your citizenship within the EEA and may be required to provide proof.

Please note that it is not possible to register for UK PLR as an EEA Citizen if you do not live within the EEA or UK. The UK PLR scheme takes no account of nationality but requires applicants to be resident within the UK or EEA to qualify for registration.

Question 11

Can I give up, or renounce my PLR rights?

If you renounce your PLR rights, you are requesting to remove some or all of your registered titles from the register. This means that you will no longer receive any loans information or payments on the renounced books.

You may renounce books which have been assigned to you (i.e. the rights have been transferred to you on the death of the original registered owner or assigned as a gift). In order to renounce you should contact us.

Renouncing your PLR rights does not affect any future applications to register for PLR. You may therefore re-register at a later date after you have renounced your rights.

Question 12

Can PLR payments be assigned?

PLR is a property right, which may be given away, sold or bequeathed. You are able transfer PLR interests to a new owner (either an individual or organisation) who will become the PLR assignee. Please note that by assigning PLR, you are permanently giving up your right to receive earnings and information on the loans of the books. It is possible to assign different books to more than one assignee. A separate assignment form will need to be completed for each assignee, specifying which titles are to be assigned to them. However, it is not possible to divide the PLR in one book between different assignees.

You may wish to nominate an alternative payee (such as a friend or family member or a chosen charity) to receive your PLR earnings. This does not change the ownership of the Public Lending Right. You can amend your payment arrangement at any time via your online account. If you wish to assign your PLR rights to somebody else, please contact us.

Question 13

What happens to PLR earnings when the registered owner dies?

For both the UK and Irish PLR schemes, the right to receive PLR continues for up to 70 years after the date of the original registered owner’s death. These rights can be transferred via assignment to a third party to reflect the wishes of the registered owner, as expressed in their will.

Please contact us to advise us of a registered owner’s death and the PLR team will help to guide you through this process. The legal representative of the estate will be required to complete an Application for Assignment (Transfer on Death) form. In order to transfer the PLR, we will need to see copies of either the will and Death Certificate or Grant of Probate, Letters of Administration or Confirmation document. These documents will be returned once we have recorded receipt. If no documentation is available, the Next of Kin should provide a letter to confirm this.

Question 14

Can titles be registered posthumously?

First applications to be registered for PLR may not be made by the estate of a deceased author. However, if the deceased had registered books for PLR during their lifetime, under certain circumstances, additional books may be registered by the executor (or the new owner if the PLR rights have been assigned).

Posthumous applications to register new titles can only be accepted if the book was published within one year before, or up to 10 years after the date of the original registered owner’s death.

New editions of existing registered titles can be added at any time during the life of PLR (up to 70 years after the date of the original registered owner’s death). You must register separately each book and each new edition where it has a different ISBN. However, once an ISBN has been registered you need not apply for it again. If you wish to make a posthumous application, please contact us and we will guide you through this.

Question 15

Can someone else manage the account on my behalf?

Due to legal requirements to protect confidentiality, we are not permitted to discuss a registered owner’s affairs with anyone other than the registered owner identified on our records. This policy applies unless we have received official documentation (such as Power of Attorney) which allows a nominated individual to act on their behalf. You are responsible for the administration and security of your account, and you should not share your password.

For security purposes we can only accept changes of address or payment details via the following methods of correspondence:

over video call or telephone, providing that the required security details are provided
via the online registration service

Question 16

What am I entitled to as a sole contributor?

Typically a sole contributor is the only person named on the title page of a book and no other person has contributed. If you are the sole contributor of a book you are entitled to 100% of any PLR payment.

Question 17

What am I entitled to if I worked with multiple contributors?

If there are two or more contributors any PLR payment will be based on the percentage share that reflects your contribution. Percentage shares should be agreed between all eligible contributors before you register the book for PLR. Each contributor should submit their own separate application.

Share agreements can be made either verbally or in writing (this includes emails). The percentage split should reflect individual contributions to a book, and the figures should be whole numbers (e.g. not 33.3%).

If you are unable to contact the other contributors, you may only apply for a share which you feel reflects your contribution to the book. However, if the other contributors subsequently apply for different shares we may remove your share until an agreement is reached.

If there are other contributors named on the title page who are deceased, not eligible for PLR or do not wish to register, you should allocate a notional share to reflect their contribution.

Question 18

What shares are illustrators entitled to?

Your share should reflect your contribution (even if paid by fee). If you are the author of a book with illustrations you should agree appropriate shares with the illustrator(s).

Question 19

What shares are translators entitled to?

A Translator’s share is fixed at 30% (if you are named on the title page or elsewhere in the book).

Question 20

What shares are editors/compilers entitled to?

Your share should reflect your contribution. Basic share is 20% but joint editors/compilers should choose a share from the guidelines below and divide this equally between co-editors.

20% share – if, in addition to normal editorial work, you have written more than 10% of the book or 10 pages of text and you are named on the title page. If you are not named on the title page you may still register 20% if you have a royalty agreement with the publisher, regardless of whether you have contributed 10 pages or 10% of the book.

50% share – if you have compiled the book from diverse material involving substantial rearrangement, editing, transcribing, and/or abridgement plus some explanatory writing.

80% share – in exceptional circumstances, for example, where it has taken many years of research to produce a book from obscure primary material and there is a large amount of original writing by the editor or compiler.

100% share – if you have written the entire book (even if you are only credited on the title page as editor or compiler).

Question 21

What shares are adapters/re-tellers entitled to?

80% of the text share (after the illustrator's share has been allocated) where the original author is named on the title page or 100% of the text share where no original author is named.

Question 22

What shares are ghost writers entitled to?

Your share should reflect your contribution. If you are a ghost writer whose name does not appear on the title page you are not eligible for PLR unless you have a royalty agreement with the publisher or an agreement with the author named on the title page. The subject or interviewee may be regarded as a co-author if they had a significant part in producing the book, apart from giving interviews, such as checking manuscripts, making revisions etc.

Question 23

How are shares allocated for Audiobooks?

Audiobook shares are calculated differently to reflect and remunerate narrator and producer contributions. If your audiobook contribution is both as the writer and narrator, you can claim for both shares (i.e. 60% + 20% = 80%). If there are multiple writers, the writer’s share allocation should be split between all writers. If there are multiple narrators, the narrator’s proportion should be shared between all narrators. See example calculation below.

Writer/author – share fixed at 60% (if the audiobook has not been abridged or translated.* In cases where you have made an additional contribution (for example as narrator), you may claim both shares (see the narrator’s share below).
Narrator – share fixed at 20%.
Abridger* – share fixed at 12% (where the writer’s original text has been abridged prior to recording as an audiobook).
Translator* – share fixed at 18% (where the writer’s original text has been translated from another language).
Producer** – share fixed at 20%.

*The audiobook abridger and/or translator’s share is deducted from the writer’s share. An abridger’s 12% is deducted as 20% from the writer’s share and a translator’s 18% share is deducted as 30% from the writer’s share.

**The producer is defined as ‘the person who organised the performance’ not the publishing company who employed the producer.

Contributors	Original audiobook shares (100%)	Translated audiobook shares (100%
Writer	60%	42%
Narrator 1	10%	10%
Narrator 2	10%	10%
Producer	20%	20%
Translator	0%	18%

Please note that audiobook titles are not currently eligible for PLR under the Irish scheme.

Question 24

How are shares allocated for audio packs?

Under the UK PLR scheme your audiobook ‘pack’ is separated into 50% for the book element and 50% for the audio element. When registering your pack titles you should apply agreed book shares to 50% and agreed audiobook shares for the remaining 50%. See the example calculation below:

Contributor	Share of book element (50%)	Share of audio CD element (50%)	Total pack share (100%)
Writer	50% of 50% = 25%	60% of 50% = 30%	55%
Illustrator	50% of 50% = 25%	0%	25%
Narrator	0%	20% of 50% = 10%	10%
Producer	0%	20% of 50% = 10%	10%

Under the Irish PLR scheme, you may only register a share for the 50% book element as audio material does not qualify. See the example calculation below.

Contributors	Share of book element (50%	Share of audio CD element (0%)	Total pack share (50%)
Writer	50% of 50% = 25%	0%	25%
Illustrator	50% of 50% = 25%	0%	25%
Narrator	0%	0%	0%
Producer	0%	0%	0%

Question 25

How are PLR payments calculated?

Both UK and Irish PLR Schemes are Government funded. After the deduction of administrative costs, the PLR fund is divided by the total loans of registered books to arrive at an annual 'rate per loan' figure, which is reviewed annually.

This forms the basis for calculating payments, which are made to authors and other eligible contributors whose registered titles have recorded sufficient loans from UK and Irish public libraries. UK payments are based on a sample of library loans data, whilst for Irish payments, loans data is collected from all public library authorities in the Republic of Ireland.

Question 26

How much can I earn?

Under the UK PLR scheme there is a minimum payment threshold of £1 and a maximum of £6,600. The rate per loan for PLR year 2022/23 loans was 13.69p. The table below shows the UK PLR payments made to registered applicants for the 2022/23 year:

Payment band	No of payments made
£5,000 - £6,600	292
£2,500 - £4,999.99	373
£1,000 - £2,499.99	897
£500 - £999.99	902
£100 - £499.99	3,319
£1 - £99.99	16,814
Total recipients	22,597

For Irish payments the minimum threshold is €2 and the maximum is €1000. The rate per loan for PLR year 2022 for Irish payments was 7.02 cents.

Question 27

When will I get paid?

Annual statements confirming how much you will receive are issued for Irish PLR in November and UK PLR in January. Irish payments are made in December and UK payments in February.

If you have an online account or an offline account with an email address you will be emailed a link to your statement. If you have an offline account, we do not hold an email address for you and you have earned received a payment you will receive a postal statement.

Question 28

How will I be paid?

You can be paid directly into your bank or building society account or via a collecting society for EEA residents. Collecting societies exist in most countries and collect fees arising from remuneration rights for authors (e.g. PLR and photocopying rights). An author who is a member of one of the collecting societies below can choose to have their PLR payments sent via the society:

Country of residency	Collecting society
Austria	Literar-Mechana
Czech Republic	DILIA
France	SOFIA
Germany	VG Wort / Bild Kunst
Ireland	ICLA
Italy	SIAE
The Netherlands	Lira Pictoright
Spain	CEDRO

CEDRO has an arrangement to pay reduced tax and at present Pictoright, DILIA and SIAE do not have a tax exemption in place. All other collecting societies mentioned below can make payments exempt of tax as they have a block tax exemption in place. If you are a member of one of the collecting societies listed and you are willing to receive payment via this method, please insert the name of the appropriate collecting society when applying.

We will contact the society to verify your membership and arrange for payments to be collected on your behalf. Please note that collecting society payments can take up to four weeks. If you have still not received your payment after four weeks please contact us.

We can also make direct credit payments to accounts held in Euros and accounts in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore. For countries in the EU with their own currency (i.e. Czech Republic, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Romania and Sweden) we will send payment in Euros. However, please note that if the account is not a Euro account your bank may charge you to convert the payment.

Question 29

Can I nominate an alternative payee?

You may wish to nominate an alternative payee (such as a friend or family member or a chosen charity) to receive your PLR earnings.

This does not change the ownership of the Public Lending Right. You can amend your payment arrangement at any time via your online account. If you authorise us to send your PLR earnings to an alternative payee, we have no liability for the payment once it is successfully made to the nominated account (Section .49 PLR Scheme 1982; Schedule 4 refers).

Question 30

How do I make sure my details are up to date?

It is your responsibility to keep your contact and bank details up-to-date. If we make a payment to your nominated account and the payment is returned to us, we will inform you and place the payment on hold until we receive new payment instructions. You can check and update your payment details online or by calling us on +44 (0)7827 985578 or +44 (0)7936 600761.

After six years from the payment date, if we have not received valid payment details, your entitlement to the payment will lapse and the money will go back into the fund for re-distribution.

We currently have over £100,000 in unpaid PLR earnings. If you are registered for PLR and have not heard from us in recent years we may have outstanding earnings for you to claim.

Question 31

Are PLR earnings subject to tax and VAT?

UK PLR payments to UK residents are made without tax deductions. Payment details should be declared as income in your tax return. For non-UK residents, payments are subject to tax at the basic rate, under Section 536 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988. Tax exemption can be applied for by contacting HM Revenue & Customs Centre for Non-Residents Double Taxation Treaty Team (tel: 0300 200 3300 from the UK; + 44 135 535 9022 from overseas). Further information and forms can be found on their website

If you have income from a source in one country and are resident in another, you may be liable to pay tax in both countries under their tax laws. To avoid 'double taxation' in this situation, the UK has negotiated Double Taxation (DT) treaties with more than 100 countries.Irish PLR payments are made without deduction of tax regardless of your country of residence. Any queries relating to tax and Irish PLR payments should be addressed to the Office of the Revenue Commissioners.

PLR is outside the scope of VAT in both the UK and Ireland and should not be declared on VAT return forms. This is because PLR is a statutory activity and makes no taxable supplies. A PLR payment is not a royalty as the author is receiving a share of a subsidy or grant. In cases of any difficulty in relation to the UK scheme your local VAT offices should be asked to refer to VAT Administration Directorate (VAH2) quoting reference TL1158/82.

Question 32

Which Library Authorities were in the 2022-23 sample?

Region	Authorities
East	Peterborough, Suffolk
East Midlands	Leicester City, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire
London	Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Harrow, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC)
North East	Newcastle, Northumberland, Stockton-on-Tees
North West & Merseyside	Bury, St Helens, Wirral
South East	Bracknell Forest, Medway, Oxfordshire, Southampton, West Sussex
South West	Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Isle of Wight, Wiltshire
West Midlands	Dudley, Shropshire, Wolverhampton
Yorkshire & The Humber	Calderdale, Kingston Upon Hull, Leeds, North Lincolnshire
Northern Ireland	The Northern Ireland Library Authority
Scotland	Glasgow, Highland, Stirling
Wales	Bridgend, Carmarthenshire, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Powys, Swansea

Question 33

Which Library Authorities are due to be in the 2024-25 sample?

Region	Authorities
East	Bedford, Cambridgeshire, Central Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Peterborough, Suffolk, Southend-on-Sea
East Midlands	Derbyshire, Leicester City, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire
London	Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, City of London, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), Lambeth, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond-upon-Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster
North East	Darlington, Durham, Gateshead, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, Stockton-on-Tees
North West & Merseyside	Blackburn-with-Darwen, Blackpool, Bolton, Cheshire West, East and Chester, Cumbria, Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Manchester, Oldham, Rochdale, Sefton, St Helens, Stockport, Tameside, Warrington, Wigan, Wirral
South East	Brighton and Hove, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Kent, Luton, Medway, Oxfordshire, Portsmouth, Southampton, Surrey, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead
South West	Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Plymouth, Swindon, Torbay, Wiltshire, Worcestershire
West Midlands	Coventry, Sandwell, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton
Yorkshire & The Humber	Barnsley, Bradford, Doncaster, Kingston Upon Hull, Kirklees, Leeds, North Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Rotherham, Sheffield, Wakefield
Northern Ireland	The Northern Ireland Library Authority
Scotland	Aberdeen, Angus, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, Dundee, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Highland, Inverclyde, Moray, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Orkney, Perth and Kinross, Shetland, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West Dunbartonshire, West Lothian
Wales	Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Conwy, Denbighshire, Gwynedd, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Swansea, Torfaen, Wrexham

Question 34

Which library loans are eligible for PLR?

PLR is limited to loans from public libraries operating as part of the statutory library service provided by local authorities under the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act. Loans from university, college, school, volunteer-run and community libraries do not qualify.

Question 35

How can I get public libraries to stock my book(s)?

The PLR office does not have any influence over the books which libraries stock. Each library operates their own policy, and stock is either ordered from catalogues or by their chosen book supplier. We recommend you discuss this with your agent or publisher.

Question 36

History of the PLR Act (1979)

British authors campaigned for 30 years for the recognition of their right to receive payment for the free loan of their books through the public library system.

In the 1970s the campaign gained momentum with the emergence of the Writers Action Group (WAG). Addressing fears that the government might make PLR a charge on library users, and, therefore, threaten the principle of free public access to libraries, the WAG campaign focused on the need for a centrally-funded scheme.

PLR was established by the Public Lending Right Act 1979 which gave British authors a legal right to receive payment for the free loan of their books by public libraries. The Act established PLR as an intellectual property right, entirely separate from copyright

The principles of PLR were set out in the 1979 primary legislation and a 1982 Scheme provided more detailed rules for the operation of UK PLR, such as which authors and books are eligible, how many libraries should be included in the sample and how the amount payable should be calculated.

The Public Lending Right Act 1979 and subsequent Public Lending Right Scheme 1982 were amended by the Public Bodies (Abolition of the Registrar of Public Lending Right) Order 2013. Responsibility for the administration of the PLR scheme transferred to the British Library in October 2013.

Question 37

Meet the PLR team

Kate Ebdon, Head of PLR Operations
Julia Eccleshare, Head of PLR Policy and Engagement
Janis Black, Manager of PLR
Emma Clayford- Rowe, PLR Operations team member
Joy Hatton, PLR Operations team member
Joanne Hawkins, PLR Operations team member
Veronica Reagan, PLR Operations team member

Question 38

The British Library Advisory Committee for PLR

The Committee provides advice to the PLR Management Team and the British Library Board on the operation of the UK PLR Scheme. The Committee consists of an independent Chair and six members representing PLR's key stakeholder groups.

Daniel Hahn, award winning translator and writer (Chair)
Isobel Dixon, Poet and Literary Agent (nominated by the Association of Authors' Agents)
Simon Guerrier, science fiction author and dramatist (nominated by the Writer's Guild of Great Britain)
Sarah Hassan, Assistant Head of Service, Norfolk Library and Information Service (nominated by CILIP)
Vaseem Khan, Chair of the Crime Writer's Association and winner of the CWA's Historical Dagger in 2021 for Midnight at Malabar House (nominated by the Society of Authors)

A further two vacancies on the committee are currently being advertised.

Question 39

Useful links for authors and other contributors

Question 40

Region	Authorities
East	Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Peterborough, Suffolk, Southend-on-Sea
East Midlands	Leicester City, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire
London	Bromley, Camden, Croydon, Haringey, Harrow, Hillingdon, Islington, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), Richmond-upon-Thames
North East	Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Stockton-on-Tees
North West & Merseyside	Blackburn-with-Darwen, Blackpool, Cumbria, St Helens, Warrington, Wigan, Wirral
South East	Buckinghamshire, Medway, Oxfordshire, Portsmouth, Southampton, Surrey
South West	Bristol, Cornwall, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Swindon, Torbay, Wiltshire
West Midlands	Coventry, Sandwell, Stoke-on-Trent, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton
Yorkshire & The Humber	Kingston Upon Hull, Leeds, North Lincolnshire
Northern Ireland	The Northern Ireland Library Authority
Scotland	Aberdeen, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Glasgow, Highland, Inverclyde, Orkney, Perth and Kinross, Shetland, Stirling
Wales	Bridgend, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Powys, Swansea, Torfaen, Wrexham