What Public Lending Right does

Public Lending Right (PLR) is a UK statutory government scheme that compensates authors, illustrators, and book contributors when their registered works are borrowed from public libraries. Established under the Public Lending Right Act 1979 and administered by the British Library Board (a public statutory corporation under the British Library Act 1972), PLR serves over 60,000 registered contributors who receive annual payments of up to £6,600 per contributor, calculated from library lending data collected across UK public libraries. Registration is free, and the program operates on an outcome/performance basis tied directly to verified borrowing volumes.

The scheme is delivered through the PLR portal at plr.bl.uk, where contributors register publications and manage their accounts. The platform integrates with Yoti, a third-party identity verification provider, to authenticate digital identity documents during registration, with non-digital verification routes available for contributors unable to use Yoti. Payments are processed annually based on lending data sourced from the UK public library system, and the British Library also acts as a data processor for Ireland's PLR scheme on behalf of the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), handling personal data under contract for the Irish jurisdiction. The PLR portal operates under GDPR and UK data protection compliance and is subject to the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

PLR's business model is not commercially revenue-generating; it is a government-funded program administered by the British Library. There are no disclosed financial figures for the program itself, no private capital structure, no equity ownership, and no subsidiaries. The scheme is governed by statute, with administrative functions transferred from the former Office of the Registrar of Public Lending Right to the British Library in 2013. PLR serves two operating geographies (the United Kingdom as the primary market and Ireland via the LGMA data-processing arrangement) and is marketed through the British Library's main website and services pages rather than as a standalone consumer brand.

Name

Public Lending Right

Legal name

The British Library Board

Website

https://bl.uk

Company type

Public

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Public Lending Right is a UK statutory scheme, administered by the British Library, that pays registered authors and book contributors up to £6,600 annually when their books are borrowed from public libraries, serving over 60,000 contributors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Wetherby

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Library lending compensation payments: Authors and book contributors receive payments based on how many times their registered books are borrowed from UK public libraries. Payments are made annually up to a maximum of £6,600 per year per contributor.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Public Lending Right (PLR) is a UK statutory government scheme that registers eligible books and pays authors, illustrators, and book contributors compensation when their works are borrowed from public libraries. Authors register their publications through the PLR portal, and payments of up to £6,600 per contributor per year are calculated annually from lending data collected across UK public libraries.

Product overview

Public Lending Right (PLR) is a single service offering administered by the British Library. It operates through the PLR portal (plr.bl.uk) where authors and book contributors register their publications and receive compensation when their books are borrowed from public libraries. The service connects authors with library lending data and handles payment distribution, serving over 60,000 registered contributors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Public Lending Right (PLR) Scheme UK statutory government scheme administered by the British Library that pays authors, illustrators, and book contributors up to £6,600 per year when their books are borrowed from public libraries. Authors register their publications through the PLR portal and receive annual payments calculated from lending data collected across UK public libraries.

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Local Government Management Agency (LGMA) - IrelandminorOthersFor the Irish PLR scheme, the British Library acts as a data processor for the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA), who are the Data Controller in relation to all personal data used to administer the Irish PLR Scheme. The British Library administers personal data in accordance with its Privacy Policy under contract with LGMA.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Irish Public Lending Right Scheme (LGMA): Ireland's PLR scheme, administered by the Local Government Management Agency, executes the identical statutory function of compensating authors for public library lending. The British Library already serves as data processor for this scheme, making it PLR's most direct operational analogue.
• Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS): DACS is a UK not-for-profit collecting society that administers rights and pays royalties to visual artists and authors, including from secondary uses. It shares PLR's model of rights-based royalty distribution to individual creators, though it covers visual rather than literary works.
• Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS): ALCS is a UK not-for-profit that collects and distributes royalties to authors from secondary uses such as photocopying, library lending, and digital platforms. It serves the same UK author community as PLR and operates an overlapping royalty-distribution infrastructure.

Regional players

• Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort (VG Wort): Germany's main collecting society for authors and publishers, VG Wort administers remuneration rights including a public-lending-right analogue. It serves the same function as PLR for the German market, providing a directly comparable continental European model.
• Stichting LIRA: LIRA is the Dutch collecting society for authors and literary translators, administering public-lending-right payments in the Netherlands. It mirrors PLR's role for Dutch authors and operates a comparable statutory remuneration framework.
• ProLitteris: Swiss collecting society that administers remuneration rights, including library lending rights, for authors and visual artists. It is a regional European equivalent of PLR operating under a similar statutory mandate in Switzerland.

Others

• Society of Authors: The UK Society of Authors is a trade union representing writers' interests, including advocacy on PLR rates and policy. While it does not administer royalty distribution itself, it is closely linked to the PLR ecosystem and serves the same author community.

Broad incumbents

• Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA): CLA licenses organisations to copy and reuse published content and distributes resulting royalties to authors and publishers. It operates across the same UK copyright/royalty ecosystem as PLR but at greater scale and with a broader commercial mandate.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PLR_UK
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-british-library

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Public Lending Right