Intellectual Freedom News 03/03/2023
Highlights
- The Freedom to Read Foundation awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Festival’s Innovator’s Award | FTRF
- Culture war in the stacks: Librarians marshal against rising book bans | Washington Post
Censorship
- Library board chair finds Florida nonprofit and attorney for policy changes | Gillette News Record (WY)
- League City Council approves ordinance to restrict minor access to certain books, residents threaten to sue | FOX 26 Houston (TX)
- Threats of lawsuit loom for League City’s library committee | Galveston County Daily News (TX)
- Broward County Public Schools improperly removes sex ed book during review process | NCAC (FL)
- Calif. parents claim student was failed for not reading ‘Gender Queer,’ demand book be removed | KATV (CA)
- Crawford County library board appoints former system director as interim after head’s ‘voluntary resignation’ | Arkansas Democrat Gazette (AR)
- LGBTQ book controversy may be revisited | County Press (MI)
- ‘We want to be heard’: Washington County students organize anti-censorship group after books removed from school | St George News (UT)
- Pastor Story Hour held in response to recent Drag Queen Story Hour | WLNE (MA)
- Grassley says ‘inappropriate’ books should be removed from schools during Waverly town hall | Courier (IA)
- Update: School board removes book from middle school | Advertiser-News (NJ)
- Sparta board of education votes on book challenged for inappropriate content | Tap into Sparta (NJ)
- One for the books: Loud turnout as SRVUSD board discusses text acquisition and complaint policies | Pleasanton Weekly (CA)
- As LGBTQ book challenges rise, some Louisiana librarians are scared to go to work | PBS (LA)
- Indian River County school board removes racial equity policy, adds book policy | WPTV (FL)
- Should Hillsborough impose parental controls at libraries? New commissioner thinks so. | Tampa Bay Times (FL)
- An Oklahoma teacher faced death threats after she helped students access banned books. She says she’s more scared for students than for herself | Insider (OK)
- Chaos at Lafayette library board could violate open meetings law | Current (LA)
- Locals stand with the Meridian Library District amid controversy | Idaho Press (ID)
- Anti-LGBTQ activism goes unchallenged at the top of Crook County schools | OPB (OR)
- Clay County man says school library books he’s challenging are ‘damaging souls’ | Newsbreak (FL)
- Controversy brews in Alachua County after claims of inappropriate books in schools | CBS4 (FL)
- Livingston Parish passes resolution seeking content restrictions for children at libraries | WBRZ (LA)
- Drag queen story hour dominates Washoe County commission meeting | Reno Gazette Journal (NV)
- Manatee County commissioners seek more control over content at public libraries | WFLA (FL)
Privacy and Cybersecurity
- Bill to protect children’s online privacy passess first committee | NM Political Report
- The California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act places new obligations on companies collecting information about children online | JDSupra
- Security agencies and congress brace for fight over expiring surveillance law | New York Times
First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties
- ACLU, Missouri library groups sue over new school book law | News Tribune (MO)
- PEN America condemns proposed Florida bill that would enact radical changes to defamation law, posing a ‘grave threat’ to a free press and free speech | PEN America (FL)
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- Florida college students and educators plan to continue resisting DeSantis’ censorship | Prism
- Florida students stage walkouts over DeSantis HE policies | University World News
Legislation
- DeSantis pushes ban on gender studies at Florida colleges and universities | Popular Information (FL)
- New bill latest assault in Florida’s war on higher education | Forbes (FL)
- Florida bill would allow DeSantis to ban CRT and Gender Studies from state schools | Rolling Stone (FL)
- Arkansas senate passes Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ massive education reform bill | Ohio Star (AR)
- Arizona senate bill to ban ‘lewd or sexual’ books called unconstitutional by experts | Missoula Current (AZ)
- Indiana senate passes bill to ban ‘bad’ books, ease prosecution of teachers, librarians | WFYI (IN)
- More questions arize in ‘obscene’ book bill | Arkadelphian (AR)
- Iowa school districts shared their book reviewing process to Iowa House legislators | Daily Iowan (IA)
- Should NC schools ban critical race theory? NC lawmaker’s bill would do just that | WCNC (NC)
- ACLU, Missouri library groups sue over new school book law | AP News (MO)
- Controversial book ban bill clears Utah House Committee narrowly | ABC4 (UT)
- Oklahoma’s classroom censorship act is unconstitutional and remains a threat to our First and 14th Amendment rights | Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights (OK)
- National wave of curriculum bills fails both students and American history | Hill
- Tennessee bans drag shows on public property | New York Times (TN)
- With 2023 legislature opening March 7, ACLU warns of brazen attacks on Floridians’ civil liberties | Florida Phoenix (FL)
- School librarians fight legislation to ban books considered obscene | Portland Press Herald (ME)
- Cotton, colleagues introduce bills to stop teaching of Critical Race Theory in schools and military institutions | Southwest Arkansas Today
- Committee kills library bill targeting ‘harmful’ materials for minors, punts on another | Idaho Press (ID)
- Feds would face new Hatch Act restrictions on their interactions with private companies under a committee-backed bill | Government Executive
- One North Dakota library is protesting legislative censorship this weekend | InForum (ND)
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
Social Media
Disinformation & Information Literacy
International
- Toronto libraries are fighting for ‘intellectual freedom’ with new collection of exclusively banned books | CTV News
- Auckland library closes after drag queen storytime protest | 1News Australia
Around the Web
- From an Emmy-winning AIDS activist to librarians fighting book bans: PEOPLE’s 2023 Women Changing the World | People
- Voters oppose states censoring discussions of racism in schools | Data for Progress
- Book bans and restrictions are a losing issue for Republicans | Insider
- The truth about the ‘censorship’ of Roald Dahl | New York Times
- North Dakota lawmakers finally take on that notorious source of smut: Librarians | Herald-Mail Media
- Former principal James Whitfield files defamation suit against Grapevine Colleyville ISD, trustee | CBS Texas
- A D.C. drag event feared Proud Boy crashers. Residents came to defend it. | Washington Post
- Former Florida teachers peaks out about incurring the wrath of Gov. DeSantis for tweeting a video of the empty bookshelves at his middle school | Business Insider
- Ron DeSantis’s education policies leave Florida teachers feeling unsure | Wall Street Journal
- Opinion: Censorship in schools doesn’t protect students from harmful ideologies, it pushes them. | Hawkeye
- Two different versions of ‘cancel culture’ | New York Times
- Statement of support for Drag Queen Storytime | Santa Barbara Independent
- Today’s attacks on ‘critical race theory’ aim to perpetuate myth of white supremacy | Chicago Sun Times
- Diversity, equity and inclusion is the new CRT | Washington Post
ALA News
- PLA to host virtual forum featuring 2023 presidential candidates March 21
- Core Webinar: Best of Core Forum – Anti-Racist Acquisitions: Interrogating Processes
- A guide to sexual and reproductive health information
- Tabletop role-playing games at school and public libraries
- New from ACRL – “Thriving as a Mid-Career Librarian: Identity, Advocacy, and Pathways”
- LearnRT Pat Carterette travel grant application has been extended to March 31, 2023
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