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Here'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'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't find it there, it prob doesn't exist.
And if a permissions statement doesn'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're thinking, what about fair use? I'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'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't buy their books, they won't get to make more books. Full stop.
So, in conclusion, don't use, share, or link to YouTube read aloud videos that violate copyright. It'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
