Intellectual Freedom News 10/3/2025
Highlights
- ALA Banned Books Week | Bibliocracy Radio
- ALA disappointed by FCC takebacks, lack of due process in decision to end library hotspots, school bus Wi-Fi | ALA
- How the 2025 Government Shutdown Will Impact Libraries | American Libraries
- AASL 2025 National Conference to Feature Renowned Authors in Dynamic Panels | ALA
Censorship
- Florida’s culled library book list may be an ‘undercount,’ critics say | Tampa Bay Times (FL)
- Lamar CISD bans more than 700 books from its libraries before start of 2025-26 school year | Houston Chronicle (TX)
- Moorhead Area Public Schools pulling and reviewing library book some suggest is racist | Valley News Live (MN)
- Stories banned by Madison School Board highlighted at ‘No Book Left Behind’ event | Newsbreak (VA)
- School board member pushes to remove books over graphic content | WFMY (NC)
- GKB school board hears public comment on book removal | Garrett Clipper (IN)
- Leander ISD pauses dozens of books in classrooms in response to state law | FOX7 (TX)
- U.S. Faces ‘Expanded and Escalated’ Book Censorship, PEN America Reports | Publishers Weekly
- Escambia School Board’s ‘privilege’ fight in book removal case continues | WUSF (FL)
- ‘A flip of the switch’: Library switches sparks confusion and concern | Smoky Mountain News (NC)
- “It was just one book.” Pierce County Librarian Fired For Displaying Book With Trans Character | ACLU (GA)
- Inside the Right-Wing Plot to Ban Books with NYT Bestseller Kalynn Bayron | NYCLU (NY)
- Library board discusses collection development, policy updates and administrative matters | Herald Times (FL)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- ICE to Buy Tool that Tracks Locations of Hundreds of Millions of Phones Every Day | 404
- Microsoft terminates services for Israeli military after investigation into mass surveillance of Palestinians | CNN
- Privacy, Surveillance, and Academic Freedom | Free Speech Center
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- Advocacy Isn’t Terrorism: The Executive Order That Threatens Political Dissent | NCAC
- Nearly 80 years after McCarthyism, Jane Fonda relaunches Committee for the First Amendment: ‘The stakes are too high’ | CNN
- Federal judge says “government speech” allows libraries to censor LGBTQ+ books | LGBTQ Nation
- Republican push for tips on Charlie Kirk posts drives firings of public workers | Stateline
- ‘A Hard Moment’: Memphis Braces for an Influx of Federal Force | New York Times (TN)
- Where the Battle Over Free Speech Is Leading Us | New Yorker
- Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow End of Birthright Citizenship | New York Times
- ICE made unlawful arrests during Operation Midway Blitz, new court filing says | WBEZ (IL)
- U.S. Deports Planeload of Iranians After Deal With Tehran, Officials Say | New York Times
- ‘Full-throated assault on the First Amendment’: Judge rips into Trump over attempts to deport pro-Palestinian academics | CNN
- ‘Dangerous Cities,’ the Military, Trump and the Founding Fathers | New York Times
- Investigation of Employment Practices of Des Moines Public Schools Pursuant to Section 707 of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 | Department of Justice
- Understanding state limits on professional speech | American Psychological Association
- Partisan Language Inserted Into Education Dept. Workers’ Automated Emails | New York Times
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- Court Rules in AAUP v Rubio: Trump Admin Violated First Amendment | AAUP
- Texas Tech Moves to Limit Academic Discussion to 2 Genders | New York Times (TX)
- Academic freedom expert believes threats today are greater than McCarthyism | Iowa Public Radio
- Health Department Moves to Block Harvard From Future Research Grants | New York Times (MA)
- Princeton’s president on how the university is taking a stand | WBUR
- Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference | New York Times
- Texas Ban on Transgender Course Content Sows Chaos | Inside Higher Ed
Legislation
- Laramie County Library System pursues proactive policies amid uncertainty | Wyoming News Now (WY)
Social Media & AI
- Trump Makes It Very Clear They’re Going To Turn TikTok Into A Right Wing Propaganda Machine | TechDirt
- Silicon Valley Cashes Checks and Stays Silent | New York Times
- Why YouTube caving to Trump is cowardly | FIRE
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
Journalism & Media
- Judge Reinstates Over 500 Voice of America Journalists and Staff | New York Times
Disinformation & Media Literacy
- Supporting Student Information Literacy in an Era of Library Censorship | Free Speech Center
- Fighting Disinformation on the Chinese American Front Lines | Non-Profit Quarterly
- Who Wrote the Trump Administration’s Flawed Climate Report? Meet the Architects of Disinformation | Union of Concerned Scientists
- The impact of interventions against science disinformation in high school students | Scientific Reports
- Trump is the primary source of US disinformation in POC media, finds ICFJ study | EurekAlert
- Dispelling the New Disinformation Around Autism | Policy Magazine
International
- Alberta has banned graphic books before. In the 1950s, ‘salacious’ comics were the target | CBC (Canada)
- Far-right Facebook groups are engine of radicalisation in UK, data investigation suggests | Guardian (United Kingdom)
- Dorset school ban on book about race is a mistake | Guardian (United Kingdom)
- Attacks on academic freedom are spreading to democracies, report shows | Science Business
Around the Web
- Reading Rainbow Returns With New Host and Celebrity Guest Stars | People
- Viral Bay Area librarian named host of ‘Reading Rainbow’ reboot | San Francisco Chronicle
- 2025 TIME100 Next: Amanda Jones | TIME
- Banned Books Week 2025 Action | Amnesty International
- In Troubled Times: Abigail Weil on Book Bans and the Library as a Place of Resistance | Swarthmore Phoenix
- Many book bans could be judging titles mainly by their covers | Conversation
- Trump Declares Everyone Who Doesn’t Kiss His Ass Is A Terrorist | TechDirt
- What the Public Memory of Charlie Kirk Revealed | New York Times
- Mosaics bookstore and community center closes American Fork location, transitions to mobile shop | ABC4
- The Man Behind Trump’s Push for an All-Powerful Presidency | New York Times
- Trump thinks he can roll over 1st Amendment | Voice of the People (Sept. 28, 2025) | USA Today
- Charley Rejsek Departs BookPeople to Lead Literacy Organization | Publishers Weekly
- The Playbook of Oppression: Florida’s Book Bans Echo History’s Darkest Chapters | Islander News
- Deal for Readerlink to Buy Baker & Taylor Collapses | Shelf Awareness
- How Did My Fellow Baristas End Up on the Front Lines of a Culture War? | New York Times
- Inclusive Content in an Uncertain Time | Wilkening Consulting
- Mount Vernon library’s Banned Book Week celebrates the freedom to read | Knox Pages
- Anythink Libraries to Launch Digital Collection During Banned Books Week | BusinessWire
- Grand Haven library celebrates American Library Association’s Banned Books Week with ‘Right to Read’ exhibit | WZZM
- Those books on the challenged list? ‘Most are currently checked out’ | Times-Call
- SIU’s 2025 Banned Books Week includes LGBTQ+ exhibition, discussion | Southern Illinois University
- OHIO Zanesville to host Banned Book Café in celebration of Banned Books Week | OHIO Today
- Collective action required to combat censorship | Rider News
- Opinion | Intellectual freedom isn’t possible without diversity | Daily Iowan
- How ‘woke’ went from an expression in Black culture to a conservative criticism | WBOC
- The freedom to read and the power of diverse voices | Indianapolis Recorder
- Coloradans will soon have free access to banned books via their smartphones | CPR News
ALA News
- Core Webinar: From Thin to Thick Library Description
- Project Outcome for Academic Libraries 2025 Report
- An updated workbook for new instruction librarians
- New from ACRL – “Teaching Information Literacy by Discipline: Using and Creating Adaptations of the Framework”
- New Research Examines Recruitment and Retention of Black Female School Librarians
- With Funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation, ALA Announces Aging Together: An Evaluation of Library Programming for Older Adults
- Pokémon Clubs at Your Library | ALA
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