The team at UK PLR is pleased to announce the launch of our new website at www.bl.uk/plr. Our goal with the new site is to make it easier for our users to keep in touch with PLR matters. You will still be able to access your online account via the new PLR homepage and all our usual pages dealing with eligibility, how to register, up-to-date advice on audio-books, e-books and e-audio material and more are still included for your convenience. The PLR pages also now appear on the wider British Library website too and can be found under the ‘Join’ tab at the top of the page or by following this link: www.bl.uk/plr.

Additional features include first-hand video accounts about the importance of signing up for PLR from authors Tracy Chevalier, S.F Said and Alexis Deacon and a case study with audio-book narrator Jeff Harding, who has registered over 700 audio titles since the extension of UK PLR to non-print material was first introduced. We will be constantly updating our content with helpful information, articles and newsletters.

We hope you find the new website fresh and user-friendly; we worked hard to make sure it contains all the information you need to take advantage of the PLR service. If you have any questions, suggestions, feedback or comments, please email us: headofplr@bl.uk.

Updated advice on the registration of e-books, and the time frame for the first payment of PLR on these titles:

The 2017 Digital Economy Bill which included an extension of UK PLR to include remote e-book loans was passed in April this year. It is due to take effect officially from 1 July 2018 and the first year during which UK PLR data on remote e-book loans will be collected is 1 July 2018 to 30 June 30 2019. The first payment of UK PLR for e-book loans will therefore be February 2020.

With these dates in mind, authors can continue to register their e-books for UK PLR on remote and on-site loans. The process, including the need to register the ISBN of each title, and the PLR rate per loan will be the same as for print and audio titles.