This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Public Lending Right Act, the landmark piece of legislation that gave authors in the UK the legal right to receive payment when their books are lent out free of charge by public libraries. To mark this milestone, the British Library will be hosting an international PLR conference in London from 25-27 September. The conference is being organised by PLR International which works closely with IAF in promoting the spread of PLR around the world.
This will be the 13th conference of its type (the first was held in 1995 when there were only 14 PLR countries) and it will celebrate the achievement of Maureen Duffy and her fellow campaigners in securing PLR for British authors in 1979 after decades of lobbying. It will also provide an opportunity to hear from the current generation of PLR campaigners from countries as far flung as Hong Kong, Bulgaria, Malawi and the US where this year’s IAF AGM provided an opportunity to promote PLR to an American audience. PLR systems now operate in 34 countries and many of them will be represented at the conference where discussions will focus on current issues such as extending PLR to ebook loans.
For more information about our work, see the PLR International website.
If you are interested in attending the conference, please contact the PLR Co-ordinator, Jim Parker.