When browsing the stacks of the local library, there’s a hum in the background that most readers will never hear. But that hum is music to the ears of thousands of Canadian writers and authors who receive cheques every February simply because their book is included in a library collection.

That’s the case for 90% of authors registered for the Canadian Public Lending Right (PLR) program, an annually recurring initiative of the Canada Council for the Arts that compensates authors whose books are found in the collections of many Canadian libraries (including self-published titles).

While over 35 countries have a PLR program, the practice is mainly a European one. Canada is the only country in the Americas with a PLR program that rewards its country’s authors (and that’s not the only unique element of the program, either).

Since 2012, one of the guiding hands behind the PLR has been Peter Schneider. Peter has been managing the program for nearly 10 years, making him a fount of knowledge about the many advantages the PLR affords Canadian creators. We chatted with Peter in advance of the 2022 submission opening to talk about all things PLR — including how the generous payment amounts are calculated, the important role of librarians in the process, how self-published authors can benefit, and much more.

Why is the Public Lending Right program so important to Canadian writers and creators?

For one thing, the program has been incredibly reliable. The first payments were issued in March 1987 and the program has, without fail, issued annual payments every year since then. We are now approaching 35 years of continual operation. The amounts from PLR are now sent in mid-February each year from the Canada Council. It’s at a moment of the year when people have post-holiday expenses coming up at the end of the winter, when an injection of cash is always welcomed. It provides recognition to writers and other literary contributors whose books are in libraries: recognition that their work is of public value and that it is found in public library collections. It provides us a means of offset or compensation for the free use of their work, where they otherwise would not be paid for the repeated public use and enjoyment of their creativity and their intellectual property through public libraries.

The recognition is a big part of it. I think that writers really appreciate the moment of recognition when they receive their PLR account statement — usually with a cheque attached to it.

There are over 35 active Public Lending Right programs in the world. Is there anything that makes Canada’s program novel or different?

As of 2002, one of the criteria for being a member state in good standing of the European Union is that you must have a Public Lending Rights scheme in your country, either in development or an active operation. Canada is so far the only program in North, Central, or South America to have a lending right program. PLR is unique to Canada within our hemisphere.

The PLR Commission, which is the stakeholder advisory board that steers the program, has had the good fortune of receiving an increase of $5 million to our budget in the last several years through the Canada Council. PLR went from distributing around $10 million to now distributing $15 million each year to Canadian authors, which is robust.

Canada is also home to one of only two PLR programs in the world that recognizes and provides payment to authors of print books, eBooks in EPUB and PDF format, and digital and physical audiobooks.

How many writers and creators are paid out by the program annually?

It varies each year. It’s in line with the number of active individuals registered with the program, the results of the annual library catalogue searches, and the titles that are active in the program. In recent years, there have been more than 17,000 individuals receiving payments — and almost 18,000 in the most recent round of payments — the latest of which went out in February 2021.

We are currently looking at having nearly 22,000 people active in PLR as registered authors for the 2022 payout. When we send the cheque in February, it is likely that more than 18,000 people will get paid. Approximately 90% of the individuals registered with the program will receive some compensation in a given year, which is remarkable when you think about it. The odds of receiving payment are quite high if your book is in the library.

The average payment in 2021 was $826. The median payment — which is actually sometimes more telling — was $406, which is still a substantial amount of money. To receive $400 or $500 for your creativity, for the presence of your book in libraries, and the fact that the payment can continue for up to 25 years, it’s well worth the time and effort to register and apply to the program with your book.

How are payment amounts determined for each author?

Despite the name of the program, which is Public Lending Right program, in Canada as in some other countries, the payments are actually compiled based on the presence of the book in a library catalogue, in a public collection. The amount of money that a writer may receive from the program isn’t based necessarily on the popularity or the number of times the book has been loaned, but on the general distribution and the availability of the book across a large number of public library systems across Canada.

To give you an example: in British Columbia, we would be consulting major library catalogues such as the Vancouver Public Library and all of its branches, the Vancouver Island Regional Library, which includes the Gulf islands, and the Greater Victoria Public Library. We’ve produced a composite portrait of Canada by stitching together the results from all of these regional library collections, which can either be from major urban centers or even entire provincial catalogues, such as the province of Saskatchewan. If a writer's book is well distributed and found across Canada, they will receive more money than if the book is only found in one location or in one library system.

By searching in library collections in each province and territory across Canada, we seek to allow regional writers whose book may be only available in their region a chance to receive payments as well.

How would payments compare for a self-published author based in Vancouver and a Margaret Atwood-type — a well-known Canadian author who has many books in many libraries across the nation?

Margaret Atwood is a great example of a very popular author who’s published books for 50 years or more. Her works are found in almost every library collection in Canada and in abundance. Nonetheless she still receives a set maximum payment, which [in 2021 was] $4,500. Many other prolific writers also reach a ceiling or a maximum payment of $4,500, ensuring the money is spread through the program so that most people in the program will receive money.

Payments begin at the level of $50. When we look at payments, it means that if someone has a book of poems in a library and it’s found by the surveys of the PLR program, they’ll receive recognition as well as someone who has authored a best-selling novel, where there might be many copies in the library of that one book at that given time.

Public libraries are incredibly progressive in terms of how they showcase Canadian creativity. If you go to the Vancouver Public Library, pride of place on the main floor has been given to independent Vancouver authors. They have a section of regional and locally published books right at the front of the library. And those are, for the most part, all eligible for PLR.

What role do librarians play in administering and facilitating the PLR program?

Librarians are pretty amazing, and they support us because there’s no guiding Canadian legislation which compels librarians to provide the PLR program with their catalogue information. Now, they’re not providing any personal loans data — they’re just providing the catalogue listings of what they have available in their public collections. But it still takes many hours to compile that data and to send it to us or to allow us to connect to their computers and comb through their catalogues. Collectively, the librarians across Canada put hundreds of hours a year into making sure we have access to their catalogues to produce these payments and they do not charge us a fee for that. They do it completely out of the public interest and out of goodwill.

Why aren’t practical books (like cookbooks or self-help books) accepted by the PLR program?

The Public Lending Right program is not universal. You must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada to apply. You must have a book that is created in an eligible literary or scholarly genre. What that essentially means is that books of fiction, poetry, many forms of nonfiction, or drama are eligible. Books for children or young readers are eligible. Scholarly monographs or books published by university presses are typically eligible.

What’s not eligible are coloring books, books of instructions or patterns, single-use books where you fill in the blanks (like a Mad Lib), and textbooks that are intended for classroom use or the educational market. Arguably books about cooking, about cuisine, or about regional food that contain narrative writing may be eligible based on the style of the book. However sets of instructions such as recipes are not considered to be eligible literary works.  As well, recipes can never be copyrighted.

That’s part of the philosophy behind the commission’s decision to make cookbooks ineligible for compensation. Practical guidebooks, which tend to be constructed from short pieces of research or cobbled together from primary source material, are also not eligible. If you went to the library to check out a backpacker’s travel guide to Northern B.C. — it’s a great book, it has value, but it’s not considered to be a literary creation in the same way that someone’s narrative about their life in Northern B.C. would be considered an eligible book.

Registration for the next PLR program opens in February 2022. How long do authors have to apply?

You may apply each year, starting on February 15th, when the registration period begins. The application forms are available on the public websites for the PLR program. People may also request that registration kits be mailed to them because we still use paper forms. Additionally, anyone who is active in the program and receiving a cheque will receive a blank form for registering any new titles or new publications that have been reprinted or republished with the program. Our open registration call lasts between February 15th and May 1st each year.

We will then look at the eligibility and the data associated with each of those title updates or new registrations and enter them into our records so we can begin to survey the libraries. You have five years after the publication of your book to register with PLR.

Let’s say that I have a book and I’ve applied for this program three years after it was published. If it’s still in a library eight years from now, would I still be compensated for that?

In all likelihood, the answer is yes, because when an eligible title is accepted for registration, it’s been published within the last five years. It is in an eligible genre, the writer is eligible as a Canadian to receive payments. We enter it into our database and we begin to search each year for that book. If the book is found, it may continue to receive payments for up to 25 years as a maximum.

Now, after the first five years, the amount of payment will begin to go down. We have a sliding scale, which reduces the amount of money to the book each time it is found as it ages out. And in part that is because librarians tell us that the peak period for activity for a book in their collections is during its first few years of public availability, although it is true that there are copies of books which remain on the shelves for a longer time.

The working life of a title within a public library collection is typically between 5 and 10 years, in terms of when the books are moving around and being enjoyed by the public. We allow for 25 years in the program at a steady reduction in the rate of pay for each time the book is found in recognition that some books will remain in library collections for a very long time. But if a writer is looking to receive the most amount of money from the program, it’s obviously in their interest to continue to publish — to continue to write and create new works for registration and for distribution to libraries. That was one of the original policy goals in establishing the program: to ensure that there would be Canadian creativity made available over time through public libraries, motivating writers and other creative individuals to continue their artistic practice.

Looking ahead, is there anything PLR related you’re looking forward to within the next year? Are there any new initiatives on the horizon?

What I’m looking forward to is more time and attention paid to Indigenous languages across the country. As there are more and more people engaged in language recovery activities, and more and more books are being published in Indigenous languages — particularly for kids’ illustrated books, storybooks, language books — we have the ability to pay these creators respectfully through the PLR program as we search for their titles in libraries. 

Additionally, there are increasing amounts of Indigenous-led library networks and librarians, and we want to do more outreach and incorporate more of these languages into the payment model of the program. That’s what I’m really excited about.

###

The PLR registration for Canadian authors opens February 15th and runs until May 1st. Sign up here to be notified when the next registration period is live:

With a bit of time and preparation, you can make the compensation structure of the PLR program a reliable source of yearly book-driven income.