October 13, 2017 – Collated by OIF Staff and News Interns

Intellectual Freedom Highlights

• New Issue of the Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy
• Intellectual Freedom is central to the National School Library Standards | OIF Blog; “Intellectual freedom advocates have many reasons to be excited about the National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries that will be released at the AASL National Conference November 9-11. School librarians champion access to information and opportunities for all learners, and it’s never been clearer than in this iteration of our professional standards.”

Censorship

• Why did this school district pull ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ from the 8th grade? | Miami Herald; (Biloxi, Miss.)
• NCAC protests ban on “inappropriate” books by Florida school official | National Coalition Against Censorship
• Victory in MN: Annandale board rejects challenge to Alexie book | CBLDF; ‘The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian’
• Drama banned again in Texas, ACLU report shows | CBLDF
• Jewish Center faces backlash after canceling play criticized as anti-Israel | The New York Times
• Lebanon art student says school officials tried to censor her work | KSPR (MO)

Privacy

• Over 40 Groups Say Bill Leaves Open Too Many Loopholes, Leaving Americans Vulnerable To Warrantless Spying | ACLU
  • ALA is a signatory to the letter sent to Congress saying that the groups cannot support the current version of the surveillance reform bill
• The one change we need to surveillance law | The Washington Post
• Court significantly reins in what data anti-Trump website must give to feds | Ars Technica
• The new DHS plan to gather social media information has privacy advocates up in arms | Public Radio International
• The Justice Department Just Reignited Its Fight With Apple Over iPhone Encryption | Slate
• Internet privacy laws we need to be aware of in 2017 | The National Law Review
• See this week’s additional privacy news and updates on the Choose Privacy Week blog.

Access

• Be an Ally: LGBTQ Advocacy and the School Library | Knowledge Quest; “Make information about LGTBQ issues available and easily accessible, for faculty as well as for students. Don’t wait for days or months designated as “awareness” periods.”
• Libraries are for everyone | Knowledge Quest
• Boston Public Library sound archives go digital | The Boston Globe
• Gale and Texas public libraries deliver program to give residents access to accredited high school diplomas | Market Insider
• Overdue fees: Barriers to access in school libraries | OIF Blog
• Scroll through colonial life | Harvard Gazette; “Approximately 450,000 digitized pages of all the known archival and manuscript materials in the Library relating to 17th- and 18th-century North America will be available to the public.”
• Fountas and Pinnell say librarians should guide readers by interest, not level | School Library Journal

Filtering

• To teach digital citizenship effectively, educators say it’s time to unblock social media | EdSurge; “Learning how to behave online responsibly and safely—a concept known as digital citizenship—requires access to social media tools in schools.”

Hate Speech & Libraries

• Oakland Public Library takes action against Islamophobia | School Library Journal
  • Standing up to Islamophobia | School Library Journal
• Why we might be fighting hate speech all wrong | New America Weekly
• What Does Facebook Consider Hate Speech? Take Our Quiz | New York Times

Free Press, Social Media, and Fake News

• The FBI’s new fantasy: ‘Black Identity Extremists’ | The Brennan Center
• Faking news: Fraudulent news and the fight for truth | Pen America
• Trump threatens NBC over nuclear weapons report | The New York Times
  • NAB, RTDNA rip Trump for NBC threat | TV News Check
• As Trump slams media, an Indiana lawmaker has drafted a bill to license journalists | Indianapolis Star
• When YouTube removes violent videos, it impedes justice | Wired
• Moscow warns it may restrict U.S. media in Russia | Reuters
• Dow Jones posts fake story claiming Google was buying Apple | Ars Technica
• Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg criticizes Twitter over political ad censorship | The Washington Post

Net Neutrality and Broadband Access

• How fast is fast enough? Comments on FCC Broadband Deployment Report | ALA District Dispatch

Academic Freedom/ Campus Speech

• A dangerous withdrawal | Inside Higher Ed, ““The Case for Colonialism” has been revoked — not over claims of shoddy scholarship or publication irregularities but rather threats to the journal editor. Some call it a disturbing precedent that could make academics less safe.”
• University of Wisconsin approves protest punishment policy | AP News
• Students attempt to shut down speech by controversial social scientist Charles Murray | The Michigan Daily
• Only 1 percent of students would consider disrupting speakers violently, survey finds | Chronicle of Higher Education
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute president (literally) fences out free speech | FIRE
• Students could be expelled for disrupting campus free speech, according to a policy drafted by UNC-system BOG | Daily Tarheel (NC)

First Amendment Issues

• Flip-flopping on free speech | The New Yorker
• A High School Student Suspended For Not Standing During Pledge Of Allegiance Has Sued The Principal | Buzzfeed
  • Student Suspended for Refusing to Stand During Pledge of Allegiance, Suit Says | Education Week
• Justice Holmes’s Free-Speech Lesson | Wall Street Journal
• President Trump may be too incompetent to destroy the First Amendment | The Washington Post
• Music, football, and the First Amendment | OIF Blog

Around the Web

• Man banned from Oregon library after hiding LGBTQ DVDs | KATU
• How Amazon reviews became the new battlefield of US politics | The Guardian
• Are Dr. Seuss’ books racist? Experts weigh in on controversy | USA Today
• 100 Women: ‘We can’t teach girls of the future with books of the past’ | BBC News
• The importance of Banned Book Week | Charlotte Observer
• Books liberate, empower young minds | My San Antonio
• Our View: Banning books only damages students’ ability to think critically | Moscow-Pullman Daily News
• 5 Banned Books to Read This Weekend | Vogue
• To ban or not to ban? School leaders consider classic George Orwell novel ‘1984’ | The Spokesman-Review

International Issues

• In China, scholars are being punished amid growing squeeze on public expression | NPR
• The new EU privacy laws are coming and they probably apply to you (sacre bleu!) | Lexology

ALA News

• ALA president calls for applicants to newly launched ALA Policy Corps
• ALA, EBSCO provide opportunity for five librarians to attend ALA Midwinter Meeting
• Accessibility and Libraries: An American Libraries Live Webcast
• Intellectual freedom opportunities at the AASL National Conference | Knowledge Quest
• Libraries Transform through Literacy: AEFL Week 2017
• Your Efforts Are Helping to #saveIMLS | American Libraries
• Webinar (United for Libraries): Troubled Library Boards: Prevention and Survival | Tuesday, October 17, 2017 @ 2 pm EST

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