Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, all the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Israel, Australia, Malta and New Zealand currently have PLR programmes.
[6] Some, like Germany and the Netherlands, have linked PLR to copyright legislation and have made libraries liable to pay authors for every book in their collection.
[clarification needed] In Denmark, the current programme is considered a type of governmental support of the arts, not reimbursement of potential lost sales.
[8] Types of works supported are books, music, and visual artworks, created and published in Denmark, and available in public and school libraries.
[citation needed] The UK PLR scheme was established with the Public Lending Right Act 1979 which was further expanded in 1982.
The PLR directive has met with resistance from the side of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).
[13] The PLR directive and its implementation in public libraries is rejected by a number of European authors, including Nobel Laureates Dario Fo and José Saramago.