Here& #39;s your periodic reminder that just because a picture book read aloud is posted on YouTube, that does NOT mean it complies with copyright! Many of them violate copyright & showing to students models poor digital citizenship & takes income away from authors & illustrators.

How do you know? Well... If someone has permission to share, they& #39;ll say it!Check their channel About page, the description for the video, the beginning & end of the video to see if there is a statement in writing or they say it. If you can& #39;t find it there, it prob doesn& #39;t exist.

And if a permissions statement doesn& #39;t exist anywhere on their YouTube stuff, then their read aloud video prob violates copyright. Yes, some of this changed during COVID when publishers gave temporary open permissions, but read carefully-they end soon & videos have to be removed.

But, you& #39;re thinking, what about fair use? I& #39;m not a lawyer, but just think about it logically: If you take an entire work that is available for purchase & record a reading of the WHOLE thing & post it for anyone to access, is that fair? Bootleg movies aren& #39;t, so why would books?

Listen, fair use & copyright with read aloud videos is a hotly contested issue in librarianship. But I fall on the side of being cautious so I am not liable + so creators get the $ they are owed. Bevcause if we don& #39;t buy their books, they won& #39;t get to make more books. Full stop.

So, in conclusion, don& #39;t use, share, or link to YouTube read aloud videos that violate copyright. It& #39;s does NOT model good digital citizenship for our students AND it takes income potential away from creators. BUY their books or put in a request for your library to buy them. /end