Public Lending Right is the concept, recognized in some form by twelve countries, that the loan of a book by a publiclibrary constitutes a use for which the author should bepaid. It is a general feature of all the PLR schemes describedthat they are based on a combination of partially conflictingprinciples. We can isolate three different arguments for alibrary compensation scheme, in other words, we have threeprinciples: a principle of copyright, a principle of socialpolicy, and a principle of cultural policy. Considering eachscheme apart, it is difficult to say whether they serve theirpurposes. The only fact that remains is a political decisionto let the state grant a payment to certain groups of originators, and it will only be possible to put them in the properperspective if they are viewed in the context of the variouscountries' other social and cultural legislation.