Copying book covers for promotional purposes
Updated 9 June 2022
School libraries commonly copy and communicate book covers for promotional purposes such as promoting library programs, book week or book reviews.
Under the Australian Publishers Association (APA) and the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Book Covers Agreement (the Book Covers Agreement) libraries, including libraries within schools and other educational institutions, are allowed to use book covers for promotional purposes.
This means that school libraries do not need to request permission or provide payment to use the copyright material contained on book covers.
The Book Covers Agreement allows school libraries to copy and communicate book covers to publicly promote books on posters, library displays, library catalogues, bookmarks, other marketing materials, websites and social media platforms.
Under this Agreement, school libraries can do the following when promoting books to students, parents and the wider community:
- copy book covers for display in libraries
- copy book covers in a school newsletter and
- copy book covers on a school website or via social media platforms (e.g. Facebook or Instagram).
For further information, please see https://www.alia.org.au/Web/About-Us/Copyright%20and%20inclusive%20publishing.aspx.
Library copying exceptions
Libraries are permitted to copy and communicate book covers for special administration of the collection. This exception allows libraries to copy and communicate book covers for cataloguing purposes. A common example is copying a thumbnail image in a library catalogue.
For more information on the Library Copying provisions, see Library Copying Guidelines.
Copying of book covers for educational purposes
It is important to note that the Book Cover Agreement does not cover the use of book covers by teachers and schools for educational purposes. Teachers and schools can copy and communicate book covers in either hard copy or digital formats for educational purposes under the Statutory Text and Artistic Works Licence. Under this licence, schools can print a book cover from a website (eg a publisher website, Amazon or Good Reads) for students or upload a copy of a book cover to a Digital Teaching Environment (DTE) for students to access via a password protected system.
For more information see Statutory Text and Artistic Works Licence.