In defence of libraries

[John Dean]

Those of you with books in UK libraries will know how important Public Lending Right is to authors because it pays a small amount for each borrowed work.

For the many authors, such as myself, who do not make enough from their writing to go full-time but whose books are popular in libraries, the arrival of the annual PLR payment in February is eagerly awaited.

However, like all areas of life in the UK, the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review has had an effect.  Libraries are closing and writers are seeing reductions in their income.

Given that many writers need strong PLR to keep writing and many readers need strong libraries to keep reading, the attack on the UK library service remains a concern. But how can we change things? One suggestion - remind your local councillors that libraries matter whenever the opportunity presents itself.