PLR - Not Yet a World Movement

LOGOS PLR - not yet a world movement

John Sumsion PLR (Public Lending Right), which ensures that authors receive income for the loans of their books in public libraries, now operates in a dozen countries. When introduced in the UK in 1982, h was already operating in Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, West Germany, The Netherlands, Austraha and New Zealand. It was subsequently introduced into Canada and Israel, Appointed in 1981 as Britain's first and is under consideration in Belgium. Registrar of Pubhc Lending Right, PLR schemes are naturally found in John Sumsion has had an unusually countries where books are extensively borrowed diverse career. Educated at choir from public libraries. It is hardly surprising to find no PLR in countries such as Spain or Portugal, or schools (St George's, Windsor in Eastern Europe and Africa, where public hbrary Castie and St Thomas', New York lending is on a very smah scale. Fohowing this City) he graduated in Modern line of argument, one would expect the next PLR History from Cambridge and in developments to come in the United States, Belgium and Ireland. In France, however, where Economics and Management from the government has deliberately set out to pro Yale and Corneh, before joining K mote selected authors and to build up the pubhc Shoes as a trainee. His career in library service, PLR is firmly off their agenda at shoemaking embraced everything this stage of development. from "Bottier" training in Paris to Among those countries now operating PLR, Canada, Austraha, New Zealand and the UK computer systems and trade union pay their authors the least. Germany and The negotiations. In 1991 he will Netherlands pay better. The top payers by far are become Director of the Library and the Scandinavian countries, where PLR is associat Information Statistics Unit at ed with social and political objectives—the wehare state and encouragement of the national language Loughborough University. and literature. The Norwegian government, for example, provides funding equivalent to £0.96 for every loan made by its public libraries; the UK provides only £0.04. In English-speaking coun tries, PLR is simply compensation for use of the writer's work. In Scandinavia, it is a form of social security benefit. The amounts provided per capita of pop ulation also vary widely (see Table I). Funds come from central or state governments in all cases except The Netherlands, where the library ser vice, and therefore PLR, is handed two-thirds from

TABLE I: right law. (b) Only in West Germany are academic hbraries YEAR COUNTRY £s PER CAPITA included. 1985/86 Denmark 1.65 (c) Ihustrators, translators and other secondary 1986/87 Sweden 0.54 contributors are generally included; 1986 Iceland 0.45 (d) In only three countries—Austraha, West 1986 Norway 0.42 Germany and The Netherlands—are payments 1986/87 Finland 0.36 made to pubhshers. 1987 The Netherlands 0.18 (e) In West Germany, PLR is paid to illustrators 1986 West Germany 0.09 and writers of academic books as a fixed sum per 1987 Canada 0.06 edition pubhshed, the administration of a loan or 1986 New Zealand 0.06 stock scheme being considered too complex and 1985/86 Australia 0.05 costly; 1986/87 United Kingdom 0.05 (0 In Canada, there is a minimum payment of £14. There the smah author benefits from the stock borrowers' subscriptions. It is significant that counting method. Only the first copy stocked by a every country that has adopted PLR has arranged library counts for PLR. for its administration through a central organiza (g) The Swedish system credits books stocked in tion. One modest office is ah that is necessary and reference sections (which cannot be removed by economic for each country, and there is no inter borrowers) with the average number of loans ference with the lending operations of pubhc recorded for books in the lending sections. hbraries. (h) A particular problem in Austraha is to know That, however, is almost the only thing that the PLR operations have in common. The Since British PLR started in wide variations of philosophy and method are illus 1982, over £16 million have trated in Table II. 79bee n distributed to some The only reciprocal arrangements 14,500 writers, translators among PLR countries are between the UK and Germany, who make payments to each other's and illustrators authors. whether a book's pubhsher is Australian or not, Restricting PLR to nationals (whether by since many books there are pubhshed by the residence or by citizenship) and excluding pub Australian subsidiaries of European or American hshers has a direct effect in larger payments to companies. authors—if the total fund is fixed. Similarly, hving (i) In West Germany, PLR is paid in one of nine authors can expect more when inheritors do not "steps". An average of the last three years' loans is quahfy for PLR. taken to determine whether an author moves up The method of calculating PLR is of or down to a new payment step. Details of loans more than technical interest. When it is calculated per titie are available only by special request and on the basis of the number of loans, fiction authors at a charge to the author can expect three times the fees paid to authors of (]) British PLR provides authors with full details of non-fiction, simply because fiction books average book loans and calculations, following the long- 8.4 issues a year and non-fiction only 2.7. Where established practice of the Performing Rights PLR is based on stock count, only the availabihty Society. of the book counts. If the hbrary buys the book, In comparison with most other hterary and the author receives some income, even if no one artistic rights, the international apphcabiUty of PLR is ever borrows it. lamentable. Only in the UK and West Germany is There are many other differences in reciprocity practiced. What principle can possibly national practices, of which the fohowing are justify the restriction of this mteUectual property examples: right to nationals only? Clearly in any international (a) Only in West Germany is PLR part of the copy consideration, the PLR cake is only half-baked.