Over 14,400 authors in 19th annual Public Lending Right (PLR) payment round
Ottawa, - 21 February 2005 –A total of 14,441 Canadian writers, translators and illustrators received payments last week amounting to more than $8.9 million from the Public Lending Right (PLR) Commission. The PLR Commission, founded in 1986, remunerates Canadian authors for the presence of their books in the country’s public libraries. PLR payments are determined by sampling the holdings of a representative number of libraries across the country.
This year, the PLR program welcomed 811 new authors, out of whom 685 received a payment. A total of 3,707 new eligible titles were also registered in the program.
The Commission made several changes to its sampling procedures in this payment round. In the past, sampled libraries included both public and university libraries. As of this year’s payments, only public libraries are being sampled. This change enables the Commission to respond more effectively to its original objective, which is to pay authors for the free public access to their books in libraries. The impetus for this change arose from developments in public library collections over the past few years, particularly with regard to the amalgamation of municipal library catalogues and the increased accessibility of province-wide public library catalogues.
The Public Lending Right Commission is an autonomous body which operates under the administrative aegis of the Canada Council for the Arts. Comprised of representatives of national writers’, librarians’ and publishers’ associations, the Commission administers the PLR program.
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Media contact:
Carole David, Chair, PLR Commission
Gwen Hoover, Executive Secretary
(613) 566-4378 or,
1 800 521-5721
Public Lending Right Payment Distribution 2004-05
|
|||
| Province | Amount paid |
Number of authors paid |
Number of communities |
Newfoundland and Labrador |
$98,390.86 |
218 |
51 |
Nova Scotia |
$241,363.18 |
537 |
128 |
Prince Edward Island |
$33,563.27 |
54 |
16 |
New Brunswick |
$140,005.64 |
310 |
88 |
Quebec |
$3,235,678.24 |
4,519 |
569 |
Ontario |
$2,897,380.80 |
4,829 |
415 |
Manitoba |
$187,240.71 |
375 |
47 |
Saskatchewan |
$178,935.72 |
280 |
61 |
Alberta |
$404,989.32 |
728 |
81 |
British Columbia |
$1,215,018.25 |
2,085 |
181 |
Yukon Territory |
$6,202.09 |
22 |
3 |
Northwest Territories |
$4,310.00 |
7 |
5 |
Nunavut |
$1,683.49 |
4 |
4 |
Other countries (Canadian authors) |
$317,979.81 |
473 |
|
TOTAL |
$8,962,741.38 |
14,441 |
1,649 |
