Guest post for National Poetry Month and beyond, by Peter Schneider at the Public Lending Right

PLR for Poets: Payment for Public Use

Did you know that more than 10,000 Canadian poetry titles are now registered with the Public Lending Right Program (PLR)? PLR is an essential cultural support provided by the Canada Council for the Arts that works with a permanent advisory body known as the Public Lending Right Commission – bringing together the professional expertise of authors, publishers, and librarians from both official language communities to steer the program.

Each year, PLR searches the catalogues of public library systems from across Canada in order to discover Canadian-authored works and pay poets, writers, translators, and illustrators. Annual payments can range from $50 to a maximum of $3,500 depending on the number of titles an author has registered with the Program, and the extent to which their works are discovered in library catalogues. The PLR payment is compensation for the public availability, use, and enjoyment of the creativity contained in library books (including eBooks) across a host of literary genres.

To learn more about the PLR Program’s rules and regulations, and to download the registration forms, please visit the website at www.plr-dpp.ca.  The registration period is open each year between February 15 and May 1, so don’t delay!