Interesting that of troy mentions libraries, where people borrow books for free.....That's true and I am sooo in favour of that.

However, one thing I adore about Canada is the Public Lending Right (PLR) program run (I believe) by TWUC (The Writers's Union of Canada). If you register your published book with the PLR people, you will get a cheque each year representing (in a theoretical way) the number of "hits" your book got in the past year - so technically, you don't "lose" by having your book in a library and people being able to read it for free rather than buy a copy.

How it works: PLR people select 10 libraries, across the country, to do a "sample" of. Registered authors receive a stipend per number of hits. The amount per hit depends on how much is in the coffers in any given year. This year my book was found in three of the 10 libraries, resulting in a payment of $110.25. Since I'm no longer making any money from sales of the book , this is gravy and a pleasant surprise every January (I always forget that it's coming!).