November 11, 2019

The Government reminds readers that the Public Lending Right (PLR) is a right for authors and other rights holders to receive payments from a central fund for the public lending of their books by libraries in the UK. The PLR scheme year of 2018 to 2019 applies to the lending of physical books and audiobooks and for the first time to the remote lending of e-books and e-audiobooks from public libraries.

Each year the British Library Board (who are responsible for administering the scheme) make a recommendation to the Secretary of State of the rate per loan to be paid from the PLR fund to registered authors, illustrators and other contributors. The rate per loan is calculated on the basis of the size of the fund available and an estimate by the British Library of the total number of loans of their registered works, obtained from a sample of public libraries in the UK.

The British Library Board has proposed a rate per loan of 9.03 pence for payments in the 2018 to 2019 scheme year. This is an increase of 0.51 pence, from 8.52 pence and reflects the central fund being unchanged and a reduction in the estimated number of loans of books registered for PLR.

The consultation invites views from authors and other interested parties on the proposed rate per loan for the 2018 to 2019 PLR scheme year. The consultation closes on 29 November 2019. To access the consultation, click here.