Highlights

• With book banning on the rise, libraries are creating ‘sanctuaries’ | WBEZ Chicago
• Why are so many books being banned? Behind the scenes | The Daily Show
• Have We Forgotten What A Public Library is For? | Washington Post

Censorship

• Library group asks FBI to investigate threats, including those in Fort Worth | Dallas Morning News
  • Letter of Concern to FBI Regarding Threats of Violence in Libraries | ALA Executive Board
• Dearborn Public Schools temporarily restricts access to seven books and sets up a book review committee | Arab American News (MI)
  • Dearborn mayor: Rally opposing library books was an effort by ‘bad-faith actors’ | Michigan Advance
  • Dearborn book bans draw supporters and foes | Detroit News (MI)
  • Tense rallies in Dearborn amid debate over LGBTQ books | Detroit Free Press
• Threatening Letter Including Bullet Prompted Downers Grove Library to Cancel Drag Queen Bingo Event | NBC News
  • Threats that prompted Downers Grove library to cancel drag bingo are part of a national trend, experts say | NBC News5 (IL)
• Greenville library meeting reveals confrontation between board chair, employees | Post and Courier (SC)
  • Police called to Travelers Rest library branch to investigate ‘obscene material’ | Fox News Carolina (SC)
• Nixa High School restricts access to 10 books including Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’ | Springfield News-Herald (MO)
• How one N.H. school district is rethinking its response to book challenges | NHPR
• ‘Access equals equity’: Anti-censorship advocates fear new book ban’s impact | Columbia Missourian
• A parade against book-banning in Doylestown, as Central Bucks School District targets ‘sexualized content’ | Philadelphia Inquirer
• Tensions grow amid challenged book discussions at Phillips Public Library | WXPR (WI)
• Suburban school districts in St. Louis area more likely to ban books under new law | St. Louis Today (MO)
• Park City board of education postpones book ban policy decision… again | KCPW NPR (UT)
• Parents ask library to restrict LGBTQ+ books | WAOW (WI)
• Greeley middle school celebrates ‘freedom to read’ as challenges to books continue | Greeley Tribune (CO)
• Sequatchie County parent wants to ban book from school library because of ‘sexual content’ | Local3 News (TN)
• Mother files police report over ‘gay’ book in high school library | Metro Weekly (MI)
• During Banned Books Week a school district wrestles with how to allow book challenges | New Hampshire Bulletin
• A school librarian pushes back on censorship and gets death threats and online harassment | Education Week (LA)
• Dozens Speak Out Against Banning LGBTQ Books at NCSD Meeting | K2 Radio (WY)
• Eanes ISD postpones annual ‘Banned Book Week’ lesson following concerns | KVUE (TX)
• Katy ISD now requires parent permission for secondary students to check out classroom library books | Houston Chronicle (TX)
• Ferguson library receives threats following drag story time event | Patch (CT)
• Pennsylvania school district accused of banning Girls Who Code book series | Guardian (PA)
  • School district denies banning Girls Who Code books | Games Industry
  • Did a Pennsylvania School District Ban the Girls Who Code Books?The Answer Is Complicated. | Gizmodo
  • PEN America responds to questions raised about book bans in the Central York, PA schools | PEN America
• Book bans: List of books challenged in schools tracked by Florida Freedom to Read Project | Fort Myers News-Press
• Ban on sexually explicit materials in Arizona schools set to take effect | Cronkite News (AZ)
• Rhode Island school librarian speaks out at school committee meeting | Intellectual Freedom Blog
• Museum cancels drag show after armed protesters show up | Hyperallergic (TN)
• JCPS board votes unanimously to keep ‘Gender Queer’ book in school libraries | WLKY (KY)
• Northview teacher, school board chair call for review of 120 ‘obscene’ books; school board to address book policy | North Escambia (FL)
• Spotsylvania, Virginia, school district removes books without review | National Coalition Against Censorship (VA)
• CUSD parent alarmed by book her son found in school library | SanTan News
• Kirkwood parents speak out against book bans | St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
• LGBT books under review by Poway Unified, educators and librarians speak out | CBS 8 (CA)
• Debate sparked after book removed from ABSS shelves | Elon News Network (NC)
• Library funding under challenge in northeast Arkansas | Arkansas Times
• Seaman High School bans book during special board meeting | WIBW (KS)
• ‘Stamped’ removed from Pickens County Schools | Fox Carolina (SC)
• Special Topeka school board meeting held to discuss banned books | KSNT
• Katy ISD adds more restrictions on student access to library books | Houston Chronicle

Privacy & Cybersecurity

• This surveillance artist knows how you got that perfect Instagram photo | New York Times’
• Hampton Public Library website hacked, redirects to adult retail store | 13NewsNow
• Bosses spying on you? Here’s the most disastrous truth about surveillance software | ZDNet

First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties

• Judge dismisses lawsuit over DOJ memo on school board threats | CNN
• Cranston library suspends use of meeting space pending policy review | Boston Globe
• Students stage walkouts across Virginia over governor’s transgender school policies | NBC News
• Idaho universities disallow abortion, contraception referrals for students | PBS News Hour
• Federal court finds 3rd Iowa ag-gag law unconstitutional | WeAreIowa Associated Press
• Update: Judge rules against school librarian Amanda Jones in civil case | School Library Journal

Legislation

• Parental rights fight in Kansas schools spawns book bans, scrutiny of LGBTQ students | Butler County Times-Gazette
• A Campaign to Counter Christian Nationalism in State Politics | Route 50

Access

• Ketchikan proposition 2 author downplays impacts of library defunding measure in KRBD forum | KRBD (AK)

Academic Freedom

• Florida all in for assault on academic freedom | Volokh Conspiracy
• University tells professors to stay ‘neutral’ on abortion | Inside Higher Ed
  • U of I memo on abortion laws draws national attention, 1st Amendment concerns | Idaho Press

Social Media

• LinkedIn ran social experiments on 20 million users over five years | New York Times
• Content moderation tools to stop extremism | Lawfare
• Bogus fears of censorship could spell the end of content moderation | WIRED
• Killingly school board’s public reminder: Social media posts can get employees fired | The Bulletin (CT)

Journalism & Media

• Iran: at least 33 journalists in jail while the world marks #AccessToInfoDay | Reporters Without Borders

Information Literacy & Disinformation

• The most dominant toxic election narratives online | New York Times
• Facebook takes down Russian network impersonating European news outlets | NPR
• Activists flood election offices with challenges | New York Times
• The woman exposing the propaganda puppet masters | Index on Censorship

International

• EXCLUSIVE Vietnam preparing rules to limit news posts on social media accounts – sources | Reuters
• Despite Iran’s Efforts to Block Internet, Technology Has Helped Fuel Outrage | New York Times
• Hackers Use Telegram and Signal to Assist Protestors in Iran | Infosecurity

Around the Web

• The strain of censorship on public libraries | NPR
• The conservative parents seeking power on local school boards | San Diego Union-Tribune
• Conservatives infiltrate Silicon Valley school board races | San Jose Spotlight
• How the Proud Boys supercharged an era of far-right extremism | Progressive
• Banned Books Week: As book bans become ‘more numerous, more organized, more effective,’ Brooklyn Public Library fights back | Brooklyn Paper
  • Brooklyn Public Library vs. the Book Banners | Indypendent
• The Prince song that started a wave of artistic censorship | Far Out
• Book community celebrating the freedom to read during Banned Books Week | KBTX
• Libraries closing under threat: Banned Books Week turns dark as numerous city libraries shut down after bomb scares | Book & Film Globe
  • All Nashville Public Library branches close after bomb threat. Police say it wasn’t credible. | NewsChannel 5
  • Threats close Denver’s public libraries, area high school amid surge in ‘traumatizing’ hoax calls nationwide | Denver Post
  • Hawaii public libraries to reopen Tuesday after closing due to ‘unspecified threat’ | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
  • Libraries across the US are receiving violent threats | VICE
• How independent bookstores help in the fight against book banning and why it matters | NPR
• Rising tide of censorship and scrutiny has schools scrambling to avoid backlash | Chalkbeat
• Woke is now a dog whistle for Black. What’s next? | Washington Post
• Banned books, censored topics: Teaching about the battle over what students should learn | New York Times
• Standing up to the new censorship | Washington Post
• Educators will teach ‘truth about oppression’ despite CRT attacks | Education Week
• How social-emotional learning became a frontline in the battle against CRT | NPR
• Disinvestment poses as great a threat to libraries as book bans | Truthout
• School board races in Florida are bolstered by national conservative groups | WLRN
• Armed protesters showed up to a Texas church’s drag bingo event | Them
• Banned-book author: If a book isn’t in the school library, ‘It might as well not exist’ | Education Week
• Gov. Henry McMaster in Aiken: Critical race theory has no place in South Carolina | Aiken Standard
• Art from the most banned book in the country on display in San Rafael | Marin Independent Journal
• Amid ‘avalanche of censorship,’ federal lawmakers introduce resolution recognizing Banned Books Week | FIRE

ALA News

• Run for ALA President-elect or Councilor-at-Large by petition
• ALA President Pelayo-Lozada announces travel grant for LibLearnX 2023
• New from ACRL – “Using Open Educational Resources to Promote Social Justice”
• 2022 Young Adult Services Symposium Stipend Winners Announced
• Announcing ALA Neal-Schuman’s new Critical Cultural Information Studies series
• The future of enriched, linked, open and filtered metadata
• Core Webinar: Mentorship for All: Creating a Statewide Program
• Booklist Reader in print for library patrons
• ALA releases free programming guide for libraries, “Programming with Primary Sources: Women’s Suffrage”
• The future of digital literacy in Africa
• Access to a Wide Variety of Reading Materials Is Critical for Student Development & Well-being

Subscribe to future issues of Intellectual Freedom News, a free weekly compilation of news delivered to your inbox by the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, including

• current book challenges in libraries and schools
• articles about privacy, internet filtering and censorship
• ALA activities, conferences and institutes, products, online learning opportunities, awards and grants, international exchanges, and more
• how to get involved and make the most of what ALA offers