The Australian Library and Information Association, Australian Publishers Association and Australian Society of Authors made an industry agreement at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, which gave libraries in Australia assurance that they could livestream and record storytimes using children’s picture books for the period of the WHO-declared pandemic without being called out for breach of copyright.
The industry agreement will extend until 31 December 2020, meaning that it will continue to be the policy of the Australian Publishers Association and the Australian Society of Authors that its members allow libraries to conduct virtual storytimes without any need for specific permission or payment. However, some publishers are now restricting their participation to livestreamed storytimes only, and others have introduced reporting requirements. Please check the publishers’ websites for their individual terms.
ALIA has the following information from publisher websites (current at 22 September 2020).
- Abrams Children’s Books agreement until 31 December 2020
- Allen and Unwin agreement for the period of the pandemic
- Andersen Press agreement for the period of the pandemic
- Bloomsbury until the end of the current 2019/2020 school year
- Candlewick Press no clear end date
- Capstone Books no clear end date
- Child’s Play agreement until 31 December 2020
- Gecko Press request permission for each book before use
- Hachette Australia agreement until 30 September 2020 (this date may be extended)
- Hardie Grant Publishing agreement until 30 September 2020
- HarperCollins Children’s Books agreement until 31 December 2020
- Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books agreement until 31 December 2020
- Kids Can Press request permission for each book before use
- Little, Brown Books for Young Readers agreement until 31 December 2020
- Little Tiger Group agreement until 30 September 2020
- Macmillan Publishers agreement until 31 December 2020
- NorthSouth Publishing no clear end date
- Penguin Random House Australia agreement until 31 December 2020
- Penguin Random House New Zealand remains in force whilst New Zealand is at Level 3 of COVID-19
- Scholastic Australia 30 September 2020 (this date may be extended)
- Simon and Schuster agreement until 31 December 2020
- Sourcebooks agreement until 31 December 2020
- Walker Books Australia and New Zealand agreement for the period of the pandemic