The first image many people have of school is a circle of small children, sitting cross-legged, paying (or not) paying attention to an adult who reads a book aloud and shows pictures to the class. in fact, presidents and sports stars choose exactly this photo shoot when they visit schools. and teachers across the country recreate the scene daily, or did until a few weeks ago.
as schools, teachers, and families grapple with the shock of abruptly shifting to online education, one small question has been how to shift these read alouds to zoom, facebook, google hangouts, and youtube, the spaces where many classes continue to meet. a second question has been given almost equal importance: is it legal to read a book to students online?
You are reading: Is it legal to read books online
The short answer is, well, yes. While many well-intentioned commentators have warned teachers against this practice, the fact is that copyright law, specifically fair use, allows many read-aloud activities online. As instructors and students adjust to new educational environments, copyright concerns about reading aloud need not be among the challenges they face.
what is fair use?
Fair use is a provision of copyright law that allows many read-aloud activities to be translated from the classroom to online learning.
In short, fair use is a limit in copyright law that allows anyone to use a copyrighted work for a “transformative” purpose that does not harm the original’s core market (meaning that you can’t compete with publishers). efforts to sell books). this means that when teachers read aloud online, use tools like school websites, learning management systems, or live webcasts, fair use allows for most of the same practices that take place in person.
in the usa In the US, fair use law takes into account the purpose of the use, the nature of the underlying work, the amount used, and the market effect of the original work. When it comes to reading aloud, these factors can be condensed into two questions:
- what is the new educational purpose for which teachers and students read this material to each other?
- what is the harm, if any, to the main market of the book or original resource? ?
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For example, reading a popular picture book aloud to a class of pre-readers can be a transformative activity if it supports a specific lesson or is designed to reinforce group identity. the point is not whether the book in question was originally meant to be read aloud, but whether this reading takes on new meaning in class, which it usually does.
To answer the second question, you must ask yourself if reading would materially interfere with the sale of physical or electronic copies. the same logic applies to chapter books, even if audiobooks are commercially available. In general, as Carrie Russell of the American Library Association has pointed out: “You’re not displacing a sale or serving as a substitute for the work… an audiobook is not the same as story time.”
In an emergency where student access to commercial learning materials is restricted, educators’ freedom to read is enhanced under fair use. temporary activities may include:
- open posts on youtube to address lack of school-provided devices and lms support
- reads to compensate for lack of access to physical resources
- materials that reflect a broader vision of the teaching mission to serve displaced students in general.
It is important to understand why you are reading aloud to understand if you can rely on fair use.
Teachers read aloud in the classroom and encourage their students to do so for many reasons: to model fluency, develop comprehension and interpretation skills, and support learning at multiple levels. Understanding why you are reading to your students is an important first step in doing your fair use analysis.
Reading aloud, through digital tools and in person, is consistent with a vision of educational universal design. it puts students with different personal circumstances, including family situation, level of preparation, language proficiency, disability and health, in a better position to enjoy equitable access to their education.
fair use is flexible: it is not specific to certain types of content or online platforms.
Because fair use discusses why materials are used more than type, both fiction and nonfiction are eligible for fair use, depending on the context. and the same reasoning that justified the reading of the text aloud also applies to the display of the illustrations.
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That said, fair use is not unlimited in scope. extensive reading of textbooks and other commercial learning materials, for example, should be approached with more caution. Permanently and generally available readings on public platforms should be avoided, although we recognize that this may be impossible under emergency conditions. in normal times the “safest” option may be a controlled learning management system, but this is by no means a necessity. School or teacher-maintained websites are another option, as are dedicated streaming channels on YouTube or similar platforms.
In the current emergency, some publishers and authors have announced that they will allow certain read-aloud activities. this is a generous act, but permission (or refusal to give permission) does not broaden or narrow the scope of fair use.
here are some cases where fair use allows online reading and some where it doesn’t.
In these cases, teachers may want to read online materials and might seek fair use support.
- a teacher reads and displays two picture books to a class as part of a longer 30-minute lesson that includes discussion and context questions.
- read aloud an introductory segment of a non-fiction text to provide students with background material and offer pre-recorded segments for students to listen to next so students can select their own learning paths.
- start class sessions with a chapter of a novel, to orient students to the online classroom and focus on learning.
- In an online recording posted on film, a teacher reads some introductory paragraphs from a book business text and then highlights (and shows on video) segments of the reading that students will do independently.
- teachers and students collaborate to read texts in parallel, contributing to a reading project distributed structure that documents both shared experiences and diverse voices.
In all these cases, the use is anchored in a transformative educational purpose and is not a substitute for normal purchases of the work. these are uncontroversial examples of fair use in action.
In some cases, the direct link to the teaching and learning purpose is less clear, or the relationship to the original commercial market is too close. Here are some activities that schools and teachers should avoid without careful and specific guidance or permission:
- establish a free youtube channel hosting readings from numerous picture books and chapter books, not directly related to classroom teaching.
- a school system trying to save money suggests that teachers consider reading business worksheet review questions aloud rather than purchasing copies to distribute for student use.
Overall, fair use provides a powerful tool to enable online teaching and learning. Going forward, fair use is critical to adapting teaching and learning practices, such as read-alouds, to ensure all students have full access to education. While the current emergency mandates an immediate response to these changing circumstances, the current lack of equitable access for all students, particularly students with disabilities and underserved students, remains a continuing call to action.
Prue Adler, Michael Carroll, Will Cross, Pernille Ripp, and Carrie Russell contributed to this article.
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