Lights, Camera, Action! Is It Fine to Film Folks Reading Picture Books Out Loud?

Several teachers want to make podcasts of some of the poems and short stories in one of our textbooks. They plan to post the audio files online for students to access. I looked at the TEACH Act, but the wording is confusing. Can you please let me know if their plan is legit?

The TEACH Act (Section 110[2]) says that educators who work in nonprofit educational institutions can make public performances and displays using digital networks or technology—as long as the presentations are for teaching purposes. Reading a poem aloud is a performance, and even though students may be listening to the audio files at home—in other words, in a private place—the performance is still “public” since anyone with an Internet connection can listen to it. To prevent that from occurring, suggest that the teachers create password-protected files. That way, only the students in their classes will have access to the recordings.

We videotaped a local early-education program and plan to show the film on our town’s cable-access channel. We recorded several community members reading aloud from picture books. Before we show the film do we need to get permission from the books’ publishers or authors? I’m hoping that fair use is more liberal when it comes to local public-access television than it is for Internet use.

Yes, fair use is more liberal for public-access TV programs than it is for online uses. That’s because the broadcast or transmission will reach a much smaller audience. But I’d still encourage you to seek permission from the books’ publishers or authors. Even though your library is providing a nonprofit, educational service, unfortunately the law doesn’t recognize the public library as a true educational institution, like a K–12 school or college. Therefore, although well intentioned, your presentation is not considered to be strictly educational (I know… what a bummer!). Also, since the cable-viewing audience includes community members who aren’t enrolled in school or in an educational course, the broadcast will reach far beyond just students.

There’s reason to take heart: the children’s book publishers may very well allow you to use their titles for free. But you’ll still need to procure a license that authorizes such use. By the way, if the reading materials were published before 1923 or were never registered with the copyright office and/or don’t include a copyright notice between the years of 1923 and March 1, 1989, then the works are in the public domain and you’re free to use them. To learn more about what works are in the public domain, visit www.librarycopyright.net/digitalslider.

A teacher asked me if making copies of an audiobook on CD to use with students in the classroom was a copyright violation. I told him it was. From what I know about fair use, the copies seem to go against two of its guidelines—the amount of the work that’s being used and the potential of the copies to negatively affect the work’s sales in the marketplace. Our district technician has challenged my assessment, saying that it’s fine to make copies of electronic media for educational purposes. Which one of us is correct? Are there new copyright provisions that would allow a teacher to make multiple copies of electronic media for classroom use?

Laurie, I agree with you and your fair-use assessment. If every student needs his or her own audiobook, then each student should have a lawfully purchased copy. Perhaps the teaching goal can be met in another way. If the teacher’s students have access to computers in the classroom, perhaps the audio file can be loaded onto a secure network that’s password protected. Then it would only be necessary to make one copy, and the file could be deleted when it was no longer needed. That option would meet the terms of the TEACH Act and arguably be a fair use. There’s also another possibility: perhaps a few copies of the audiobook could be purchased and held on reserve in the library.