Authors' payments from library loans to be revised
Changes to Public Lending Right announced.
The Government has announced that the payment, known as the Public Lending Right, or PLR, will go down in February 2011 from 6.29 to 6.25 pence per book borrowed. This decrease of less than 1 per cent follows a recommendation from the PLR Registrar, who manages the PLR Scheme, and consultation with representatives of authors and libraries.
In the current economic climate funds are not available to maintain or increase the current rate per loan paid to authors for loans of their books from public libraries. However, the Government remains committed to the importance and value of the PLR Scheme
Each year the amount due to registered authors is calculated by the Registrar. This is based on a rate per loan, obtained by dividing the money available in the fund by the total number of loans during the period. The decline in the book rate this year is because of an increase in the number of book loans while the funding has decreased. It will apply to book loans during the period July 2009 and June 2010.