Intellectual Freedom News 1/28/2022
Highlights
- ALA Executive Board stands with REFORMA
- Nominations invited for annual Downs Intellectual Freedom Award
- New intellectual freedom resource helps librarians address challenges to problematic authors
Censorship
- US conservatives linked to rich donors wage campaign to ban books from schools | Guardian
- Book banning fever heats up in red states | Salon
- Senate advances Joe Gruters’ book banning bill | Florida Politics
- School board salaries and library books on the line | CBS 12 (FL)
- Lancaster County school officials shouldn’t surrender to those seeking to ban books from school libraries [editorial] | Lancaster Online (PA)
- A Healthy Democracy Does Not Support Library Censorship | Flathead Beacon (MT)
- Wentzville School Board bans acclaimed novel from high school libraries over obscenity complaints | St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
- Pennridge Parents Resist School District’s Move to Remove Books by Black, LGBTQ Authors | WDIY/ WHYY (PA)
- School board to continue discussions on book challenges Monday; book disputes have been rare, officials say | Daily Reflector (NC)
- Brevard School Board: training accused of critical race theory has nothing to do with race | Florida Today
- Billings School Board votes to keep controversial books addressing LGBTQ+ issues | Billings Gazette (MT)
- Billings school board votes to keep LGBTQ-themed books in libraries | Montana Public Radio
- New plan would keep ‘All Boys Aren’t Blue’ in school libraries – with a catch | AskFlagler (FL)
- Florida school district cancels professor’s civil rights lecture over critical race theory concerns | NBC News
- Library Policy Committee Conducts Review, Clashes Over Definition of Censorship | Flathead Beacon (MT)
- ‘Feels like a slippery slope’: York mulls pulling sex ed book from Middle School library | Seacoast Online (ME)
- Katy ISD unblocks four LGBTQ websites | Out Smart
- Iowa Gov: ‘I don’t think that’s appropriate’: Context and controversy behind book challenged in Iowa | KCCI
- Book causes handful of parents to pull kids from English class | KNSI Radio (MN)
- Virginia’s new Republican governor, who banned critical race theory in schools, is launching a tip line for parents to report their kids’ teachers | Business Insider
- Maine education groups push back against challenges to books in school libraries | Bangor Daily News
- ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ will be removed from ninth-grade required reading list in Mukilteo | King5 (WA)
- Pitt County school board approves policy to inform parents of novel sets read | WITN (NC)
- ‘They are explicit’: Some in Lexington-Richland 5 concerned about library books | WLTX (SC)
- Critical race theory debate in Kansas shifts to curriculum transparency. How will it affect the classroom? | Topeka Capital-Journal
- Georgia lawmakers try to identify critical race theory in schools | Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Granbury ISD pulls 130 school library books for review | WFAA.com
- Williamson County Schools committee removes book from elementary curriculum | Tennessean
- Mask mandates, banned books headline heated Loudoun Co. school board meeting | WJLA (VA)
- Conservative group trying to ban 16 books from Polk Schools, calling them pornographic | Ledger (FL)
- The fight to ban books is once again raging in Wake County public schools and libraries | Indy Week (NC)
- N.J. high school board votes against recommendation to ban LGBTQ+ book | NJ.com
- ‘Dear Martin’ pulled from Tuscola class | Smoky Mountain News (NC)
- Ridgeland mayor demands LGBTQ+ book purge, threatens library funding | Mississippi Free Press
- Tennessee school board bans Holocaust graphic novel ‘Maus’–author Art Spiegelman condemns the move as ‘Orwellian’ | CNBC
- Indiana schools, libraries could face prosecution for ‘harmful’ materials under statehouse bill | FOX 59
- Hudson parents wanted 3 ‘offensive’ books pulled from high school library. What happened? | Akron Beacon Journal (OH)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- No cameras: Library Board of Trustees decides not to install security cameras at local libraries | Sheridan Press (WY)
- Capitol Police examines backgrounds, social media feeds of some who meet with lawmakers | Politico
- IRS facial recognition move raises bias, privacy concerns | TechTarget
More privacy news is available at the Voices for Privacy blog.
First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties
- Opinion: Do Americans Even Know What Free Speech Is? | Bloomberg Quint
- Sarah Palin’s defamation suit against ‘The New York Times’ gets its day in court | NPR
- Opinion: In this case, the Constitution requires a city to display a religious flag | Washington Post
- Judge dismisses parents’ lawsuit against Loudoun schools over racial equity plans | DCist (VA)
- Noem unveils abortion ban, mimics Texas’ private enforcement | ABC News
- Supreme Court takes affirmative action cases | Inside Higher Ed
- Policy excluding transit ads that are ‘political,’ ‘controversial, offensive, objectionable, or in poor taste’ violates First Amendment | Reason
- Fight over Ohio’s legislative maps goes right back to Supreme Court | FOX 19
- ACLU, others celebrate federal ruling on Iowa mask mandate in schools | Our Quad Cities
- County ordered to pay $66K to former employee denied coverage for gender-affirming care | The Hill
- House bill to extend ‘free speech’ areas campus-wide spurs First Amendment debate | Georgia Recorder
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- Judge issues stinging free speech ruling against University of Florida | New York Times
- Opinion: A win in Florida for academic freedom — and for democracy | Washington Post
- When the CCP threatens international students’ academic freedom | Reason
Legislation
- Va. Senate kills bill requiring parental consent to check out sexually explicit books | ABC 13 News
- Opponents Say Bill Is Censorship and Whitewashing History | InDepthNH.org
- Bill banning critical race theory goes to Mississippi senate | Greater New Milford Spectrum
- Bill to ban lessons making White students feel ‘discomfort’ advances in Florida senate | The Hill
- Library professionals complain about Indiana bill that allows lawsuits over ‘inappropriate material’ | Post Tribune/ Chicago Tribune
- Texas Gov. introduces ‘parental bill of rights’ amid LGBTQ+ book banning | Los Angeles Blade
- GOP Senators Back Stricter Scrutiny of School and Library Books (Florida) | Flagler Live
Access
- St. Charles Public Library closed for in-person visits following threats to staff regarding mask policy | Kane County Chronicle
- ‘It’s basic human dignity’: Groups work to get books to incarcerated people | NBC News
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- Biden FCC nominee settles case that spurred GOP senator’s fight | Bloomberg Law
Social Media
- Trump’s free speech social-media site plans to use AI to automatically censor some posts | Business Insider
- How Black Twitter influenced Black electoral opinion during the 2020 presidential election | Brookings
- Conspiracy theorists, banned on major social networks, connect with audiences on newsletters and podcasts | Washington Post
Copyright
- (Ab)use of Copyright law as the tool of choice for censorship and reputation management | Berkman Klein Center
Information Literacy & Disinformation
- House panel broadens probe into climate disinformation by Big Oil | Washington Post
- Lawsuit alleging oil companies misled public about climate change moves forward | NPR
- The role for DHS in countering the disinformation threat | Just Security
- VIRA joins the call on WhatsApp to combat vaccine disinformation | TechRepublic
- Spotify pulls Neil Young’s music after singer gave ultimatum over Joe Rogan’s COVID ‘disinformation’ | People
International News
- The West has gotten savvier about Russian disinformation. Will that help Ukraine? | Washington Post
- Tor Project battles Russian censorship through the courts | ZDNet
- U.S. State Department report detailed censorship & quashing of dissent during last Olympics in China | Deadline
- Academics should not be bullied in rows about slavery, says Professor Ewen Cameron | The Times
- Russia steps up propaganda war amid tensions with Ukraine | New York Times
Around the Web
- New Kalispell library director will result in loss of state funding | NBC Montana
- Library trustees approve contract for new director | Daily Interlake
- The Conflict Campaign: Exploring Local Experiences of the Campaign to Ban “Critical Race Theory” in Public K–12 Education in the U.S., 2020–2021 | UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education and Access
- Critical race theory and the banning of Black authors in schools, libraries, and prisons | New York Amsterdam News
- New Mexico is pushing to be a ‘model’ for how race is taught in U.S. schools | NPR
- Do educators think critical race theory should be taught in class? We asked | Education Week
- Why teaching about critical race theory has become a lightning rod in suburban schools | Daily Herald (IL)
- Here’s what public libraries actually are | Couer d’Alene Press
- Censorship continues to be pushed in public libraries, but not in Vermont | The Vermont Cynic
- When States Ban Books About Sex, What Should Physicians Do? | Medscape (registration required)
- The 1619 Project, other history books should not be banned from SC’s classrooms | The State
- Behind the Critical Race Theory crackdown | African-American Policy Forum
- Critical race theory in schools isn’t indoctrination, it’s the truth | New University
- Writing while Black under scrutiny | Daily Kos
- Tully community rallies to support gay high school student at board meeting | CNY Central
- Carroll ISD teacher, board reach agreement on complaint over reprimand for anti-racist book | Fort Worth Star-Telegram
- Black Lives Matter at School look to defeat bill that would prohibit teaching CRT in public schools | Seattle Medium
- Lawmaker tells Florida mom ‘No book’ made him gay as state debates LGBT topics in schools | Newsweek
- Anti-Semitic images and text found inserted in library book | WPXI (PA)
- ‘Sailor Moon’ and the dangers of censorship | Michigan Daily
ALA News
- American Library Association announces 2022 Youth Media Award winners
- ALA, ATALM hail FCC’s unanimous decision to expand E-rate eligibility for tribal libraries
- PLA opens registration for 2022 Virtual Conference
Awards & Grants
- Twenty-five libraries selected for Let’s Talk About It: Women’s Suffrage humanities discussion project
- First-ever Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List announced by the Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table
- YALSA announces 2022 Alex Awards
- Announcing the 2022 Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction Notable Lists
- Public Libraries magazine announces 2022 Feature Article Contest winners
- Submissions Now Open for the 2022 John Cotton Dana Award
eLearning
- United for Libraries’ Feb. 8 Learning Live session to offer cyber security guidance for Friends groups, Foundations, and their libraries
- Improving Web Site Accessibility
- Sustainable Thinking Builds Strong Libraries and Resilient Communities
- February Online Learning with RUSA
- Outreach Services for Underserved Teens; When it comes to teen outreach services, underserved communities provide a variety of challenges. You can’t serve them if you can’t identify them, and this eCourse begins by providing a clear foundation for defining and identifying underserved teens in your community.
- More eLearning opportunites
Publishing
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