PLR: A Timeline, detailing key PLR events, is available to view/print.

About Us provides information relating to the PLR organisation and background to the Act and Scheme. Please choose a topic from the drop down list below:

Our Organisation

The Public Lending Right office is based in Stockton on Tees. Overall responsibility for PLR lies with the Registrar, and he is supported by 12 members of staff providing Author Services and Corporate Services. The PLR Organisational Chart is available in pdf format.

PLR is funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and in 2011-12 received £7.22 million pounds in grant-in-aid, of which £6.5 million was distributed to authors. Funding for 2012-13 has been set at £7.08 million.

The Registrar is advised by a Management Board and Audit Committee, and details of both can be found within the PLR committees section of this site.

In administering the PLR Scheme, the Registrar and his team set themselves a number of core objectives. Further information can be found within PLR objectives. PLR's most recent Corporate Plan can be viewed within the Media Centre area of this site under Publications.

A four-year Funding Agreement between DCMS and PLR sets out PLR's strategic priorities and the contribution that it will make towards meeting DCMS objectives. The current Funding Agreement covers the period 2011-15 and can be viewed under Publications.

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Background to the PLR Act and Scheme

PLR was established by the Public Lending Right Act 1979 which gave British authors a legal right to receive payment for the free lending of their books by public libraries. Under the Act funding is provided by Central Government and payments are made to eligible authors in accordance with how often their books are lent out from a selected sample of UK public libraries. To qualify for payment authors must apply to the Registrar of PLR who is appointed by the government to maintain a register of eligible authors and books, and to supervise the administration of PLR. The Act established PLR as an intellectual property right, entirely separate from copyright.

Thus the principles of PLR were set out in the 1979 primary legislation. The 1982 Scheme sets out more detailed rules for the operation of PLR in the UK such as which authors and books are eligible, how many libraries should be included in the sample providing loans data to the Registrar, and how the amount payable each year to authors should be calculated.

The Registrar is responsible to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport for the administration of PLR and the Scheme is funded through this department. The Registrar has a very unusual legal position, being treated under the PLR Act as a Corporation Sole. The Registrar is advised by a Management Board appointed by the Registrar to advise him on the operation and future development of PLR.  The Board consists of an author, a librarian, a publishing specialist and a member with experience of managing a government-funded body.

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Campaign for PLR

For thirty years before the passing of the 1979 Act British authors campaigned for recognition of their right to receive payment for the free public use of their books through the public library system. By the early 1970s the PLR campaign was given added momentum with the emergence of the Writers Action Group (WAG). Conscious of the fears of many people, particularly librarians, that the government might make PLR a charge on library users, and thus threaten the principle of free public access to libraries, the WAG campaign focused on the need for a centrally-funded scheme. Eventually, and in spite of opposition from a determined minority of MPs, PLR became law in 1979. There followed the appointment of a Registrar, introduction of the Scheme in 1982, and the establishment of the new PLR office in Stockton-on-Tees in the north of England. £2 million was allocated initially by the government for PLR funding. The fund increased to £7.6 million in 2006.

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