Fair use is not strictly defined by the law, and is subjective, so there is not a straightforward interpretation when looking at virtual story time. Instead, four factors are applied to determine if the use of someone else’s work is considered fair:
- the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
- the nature of the copyrighted work.
- the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
- the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Most court cases revolve around number 4. The Office of Intellectual Freedom has a good blog entry about this: https://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=25789
ALA has a dedicated "fair use" LibGuide: https://libguides.ala.org/copyright/fairuse
I would advise reaching out directly to the publisher if there is a question about using their title in a virtual story time. Penguin Random House has extended their open license for online story time through March of 2022, but not all other publishers have. The only way to guarantee you won't get a cease-and-desist letter for virtual story time is to abide by the publishers' guidelines or use stories in the public domain.
