Highlights

• US District Court grants preliminary injunction barring implementation of Texas censorship law | AAP (TX)
• AASL commends the Florida Freedom to Read Project | ALA
• Here’s how the American Library Association is working to protect LGBTQ+ librarians | Bucks County Beacon
• AASL National Conference Closing Session Features Authors on the Right to Read | ALA

Censorship

• Moms for librerty is growing in Wisconsin as critics call them extremists | Wisconsin Watch (WI)
• Requests to ban books hit a 21-year high. See which titles were the most challenged | CBS News Miami
• Voters’ pamphlet statements filed in Columbia County as embattled library carries on | Walla Walla Union-Bulletin (WA)
• Georgia school district canceled an author’s talks after he said ‘Gay’ | New York Times (GA)
• Twenty-two challenges to school library books have been filed in Maine since January 2022. Just one book has been removed. | Maine Monitor (ME)
• Texas tried to enact more book bans last year than any other state | San Antonio Current (TX)
• Rural conservatives push to dissolve local library that ignored their book ban demands | Raw Story (WA)
• 4 books removed from Rutherford County public library shelves all contain LGBTQ themes | WKRN (TN)
• The chaos in Florida school libraries | Popular Information (FL)
• Little Rock Central High School holds book banning panel | KARK (AR)
• FBI investigating series of bomb threats at Yolo County library in Davis | KCRA (CA)
  • Library that kicked out Moms for Liberty group suffers third bomb threat | Advocate (CA)
• Iowa City Public Library closed Tuesday due to bomb threat | KWWL (IA)
• Lafayette library board president Robert Judge relinquishes leadership role | Acadiana Advocate (LA)
• St. Tammany Parish Council wades into library content, priming more controversy | Louisiana Illuminator (LA)
  • St. Tammany Parish Council meeting heats up over library book debate; woman accosted | WDSU (LA)
  • Library board meetings at book challenge capital of the nation settle into predictable chaos | Louisiana Illuminator (LA)
• Calls to remove LGBTQ-themed books from Ozark library lead to tense meeting | Alabama Reflector (AL)
• Residents pack Horry County school board meeting to debate banned books | Post and Courier (SC)
  • Parents, advocates pack Horry Co. school board meeting over book removal | WPDE (SC)
• Entire district to lose access to new books after school board member misreads kindergarten book | Mary Sue (TX)
• ‘This is really graphic’: Indian River County School Board removes dozens of books, at the public’s request | CBS12 (FL)
• Westminster, Maryland, school district removes 50 challenged books | NCAC (MD)
• Protect access to books and ideas at libraries facing threats of violence | Chicago Sun Times (IL)
• Colorado library rejects demands to remove 4 LGBTQ books | Metro Weekly (CO)
• Censorship due to book ban cause of concern for Cobb County teachers, media specialists | WSB-TV (GA)
  • Removal of graphic novel raises questions about Georgia school review process | Chattanooga Times Free Press (GA)
• Mobile residents may challenge up to 30 library books that include LGBTQ+ concepts | Alabama.com (AL)
• NCSD’s new opt-in system will require approval from parents to access controversial books | Casper Star Tribune (WY)
• More than 120 books are under review in Fort Worth ISD. Here’s the list | Fort Worth Report (TX)
  • Fort Worth ISD schools reopen libraries after pulling more than 100 books for review; businessman proposes software to help process | WFAA (TX)
• Papillion-La Vista school board rejects attempt to remove book from library | WOWT (NE)
• Children, teen LGBTQ book controversy moves to Ozark Dale County Library; Ozark mayor calls to cut funds | 1819 News (AL)
• Florida reviewers of AP African American Studies sought ‘opposing viewpoints’ of slavery | Miami Herald (FL)
• Arkansas Education Department withdraws credit for AP African American Studies | Dallas Weekly (AR)

Privacy & Cybersecurity

• 12 down, 38 to go: Oregon becomes one of the latest states to enact a comprehensive data privacy law | Lexology (OR)
• Facial age-estimation tech weighed by Feds as children’s privacy protection option | EdWeek
• FBI hoovering up DNA at a pace that rivals China, holds 21 million samples and counting | Intercept

First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties

• ACLU sues over Indiana law blocking gender-affirming surgery for inmates | AP (IN)
• ACLU sues Tennessee district attorney who promises to enforce state’s new anti-drag show ban | AP (TN)
• School district’s anti-CRT resolution prompts lawsuit from teachers and students | EducationWeek (CA)
• Transgender woman in New York reaches landmark settlement with county jail after great discrimination | USA Today (NY)
• UNL College of Law establishing First Amendment law clinic | KLIN (NE)
• ‘And Tango Makes Three’ authors refile challenge to Florida parental rights law | Tampa Bay Times (FL)

Academic Freedom & Student Speech

• Christopher Rufo’s alarming and deceptive crusade against public universities | TIME
• The political machine behind the war on academic freedom | Chronicle of Higher Education
• Ohio higher education overhaul would chill speech and academic freeddom with threats of discipline | Ohio Capital Journal (OH)
• Vale officials pull high school yearbook, spur censorship claims | Malheur Enterprise (OR)

Legislation

• Massachusetts legislators file bills to prevent book bans | WAMC (MA)
• Future legislation could protect libraries, librarians, and the freedom to read | Waitsburg Times (WA)

Disinformation & Information Literacy

• ChatGPT breaks its own rules on political messages | Washington Post
• Meta shut down a disinformation campaign tied to Chinese law inforcement | TechCrunch
• TikTok removes 284 accounts linked to Chinese disinformation group | Guardian

Social Media

• Meta overhauls controversial ‘dangerous organizations’ censorship policy | Intercept

International

• Vocal minority?: Brandon school trustee wants committee to screen books | Yahoo! News Canada

Around the Web

• The Christian home-schooler who made ‘parental rights’ a GOP rallying cry | Washington Post
• ‘Speak’ author Laurie Halse Anderson advocates for the freedom to read ahead of Central Illinois Reads appearance | WCBU
• For John Green, the battle over access to books has gotten personal | New York Times
• Meet Mary Wood, a teacher resisting censorship | ACLU
• In Marblehead, furor and speculation reign over an ousted school superintendent | Boston Globe
• Bomb threat disrupts drag queen story hour in Princeton — but the show goes on | TapInto Princeton
• A rainbow of angels: Group shields children attending Drag Story Hour | Fresh Water Cleveland
• Books banned most in Missouri, Kansas top national list | KCTV
• Books and censorship | South Platte Sentinel
• Book ban protest inspires new book by local author | WTVG
• Letter: BCSC should put students’ right to read before censors’ interests | Republic
• Book-ban efforts target LGBTQ+ works. Madison libraries display them. | Cap Times
• Book banners in Kentucky get to work distracting librarians, hurting democracy — Opinion | Kentucky.com
• Illinois is a haven against book bans, but advocates say the threat to democracy remains | WBEZ
• UNC professor urges caution before banning books in schools | Spectrum News

ALA News

• Applications Open for 2024 Core Mentoring Program
• Samantha R. Nunn Selected as the 2023 Tony B. Leisner Scholarship Recipient
• ACRL releases “Creators in the Academic Library”

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