Penguin Random House Australia open licence: online story time and read-aloud videos and live events

In order to support bookstores, schools and public libraries forced to close by the escalating COVID-19 outbreak, Penguin Random House Australia is permitting teachers, librarians and booksellers to create and share story time and read-aloud videos and live events, according to the following terms:

For Teachers and Educators providing distance learning to students in a virtual classroom setting:

• Story time or classroom read-aloud videos in which a Penguin Random House Australia book is read aloud and the book is displayed (for picture books) may be created and posted to closed educational platforms such as Google Classroom, Schoology, Edmodo and Discovery Education, in order to replicate the read-aloud book experience that would otherwise be available to educators in the classroom.
• If a Teacher or Educator plans to share a story time video by recording a video, uploading it to a YouTube channel, and posting a link to that YouTube video inside a closed educational platform, that YouTube video must be designated as “Unlisted” (not “Public”) when uploading.

For Booksellers and Librarians who wish to provide a story time reading or other read-aloud experience to young people who would otherwise visit the library or bookstore in person:

• Story time or read-aloud live events in which a Penguin Random House Australia book is read out loud and the book is displayed (for picture books) may be streamed live, in real time, on social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook Live, Twitter, and Instagram.
• These story time or read-aloud live events may not be maintained in the archive of the social media platform and appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that videos of the live events are not retained. Because these platforms automatically archive live events by default, when your event has concluded, please locate the recorded live video in your account (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) and delete it. 

For all parties:

1.  Teachers, librarians, and booksellers agree to provide bibliographic details of the featured book with any published recording, including the title, author, illustrator and publisher, plus a clear picture of the cover.

2.  This policy applies only to titles published by Penguin Random House Australia.  If you wish to use titles published by Penguin Random House US please see https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/penguin-random-house-temporary-open-license/

3.  This policy is temporary and will remain in force until 31 December 2021. Once this period has ended, teachers, librarians and booksellers agree to destroy all recordings, and take down any online recordings.

4.  Confirm this is agreeable by emailing teachers@penguinrandomhouse.com.au with your name, email, address of library/school/store, the title, author and ISBN of the book you will be reading, and what platform you plan to do the reading on.