Intellectual Freedom News 11/26/2021
Highlights
- Libraries, and the books in them, must reflect the diversity of thought and values in their communities | Bangor Daily News; “Young people have First Amendment rights — not only the right to speak but the right to access and use the resources of the school or public library, free from any censorship that arises from disapproval of a book’s content or views.” Deborah Caldwell-Stone
- Utah Educational Library Media Association Statement on Challenges Fall 2021 | Utah Educational Library Media Association
- NYLA Position Statement on the Defense of Intellectual Freedom | New York Library Association
- Kansas City Public Library statement on book banning | Kansas City Public Library
Censorship
- US libraries report spike in organized attempts to ban books in schools | The Guardian
- Librarians, educators warn of ‘organized’ book banning efforts | Publishers Weekly
- Threats and abuse over ‘critical race theory’ could drive staff out of public schools | Yahoo! News
- School board member files police report to have ‘All Boys Aren’t Blue’ removed from school libraries because it’s a Black queer memoir | Yahoo! News
- Potential book ban in school galvanizes 2 sides in day of highs and lows as Sheriff recoils at criminal complaint | Flagler Live
- Mark Lane: Book banners pull LGBT memoir from the shelves in Flagler | Daytona Beach News-Journal
- Flagler Sheriff: Controversial book in school libraries broke no law | Yahoo! News
- On book bans, ‘equity’ and the school district’s duty to honor student diversity: The students’ perspective | Flagler Live
- Riverbend High School students hold protest against removing library books | Free Lance-Star
- Book that sparked a statewide schools review won’t return to Fort Mill SC libraries | Island Packet
- Anchorage school district bans ‘Gender Queer’ book from its libraries | Anchorage Daily News
- Wayne Township parents call on school to pull book dealing with LGBTQ+ topics | Connecticut News 12
- Schools across St. Louis face more attempts to remove books from library shelves | St. Louis Public Radio
- New Jersey school censors student’s Black Lives Matter poster in African American culture display | National Coalition Against Censorship
- Governor says Utahns should ‘pump the brakes’ over banning books in schools | Deseret News
- ACLU of Utah statement on book banning and the First Amendment | ACLU of Utah
- Committee formed to address censorship concerns at city schools | Daily News-Record [Harrisonburg, VA]
- School district in Harrisonburg, Virginia, reviewing gender queer in school libraries | National Coalition Against Censorship
- Fairfax schools will return two books to shelves after complaints over sexual content | The Washington Post
- Iowa senator calls for felony penalty for distribution of ‘obscene materials in schools | Des Moines Register
- Iowa senate president vows to prosecute teachers over books | Iowa Starting Line
- What you need to know about targeted library books in Iowa | Iowa Starting Line
- LGBTQ, sex ed books bring group, protests to Wyoming library | U.S. News & World Report
- Texas book ban would cost school districts millions of dollars in staff time | Book Riot
- Texas education board chair discusses fight over library books | Spectrum News 1
- Texas education board rejects textbooks amid debate over lessons on sexuality, LGBTQ issues | San Antonio Express-News
- Poll: Texans don’t trust lawmakers to decide which books to ban | Spectrum News 1
- Texas parents step in after threats of violence get children’s story time event cancelled | LGBTQ Nation
- Educators urge parents not to call police over ‘harmful’ books in school libraries | KSL News Radio
- Pinellas school district orders removal of ‘Gender Queer’ book | Tampa Bay Times
- DASD: Book to be made available to younger students with parental permission | Courier Express (DuBois, PA)
- Johnston parents file complaint to remove two books from school curriculum | WHO-TV Des Moines
- Muscatine parents discuss the topic of book banning at this week’s school board meeting | Muscatine Journal
- Central Kitsap School District to re-examine graphic novel removed from library | Kitsap Sun
- School removes student project about fascism after cops complain | Vice
- Library reviewing gender identity books after complaints filed | Yahoo! News
- Proud Boys join effort to ban ‘Gender Queer’ book from school library — rattling students in suburban Chicago | Chicago Sun-Times
- ACLU, NCAC urge North Kansas City [Missouri] schools to return censored LGBTQ books to libraries | KSHB
- ACLU letter to North Kansas City Schools [PDF] | ACLU of Missouri
- Urbandale school committee to review controversial book | KCCI
- LTHS mom reads steamy passages from school’s books | Patch [La Grange, IL]
- Georgia schools targeted in battle over library books, online content | Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- Did an ‘inappropriate’ book get a high school principal put on leave in Arizona? | The State
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Police aerial surveillance endangers our ability to protest | EFF
- U.S. lawmakers call for privacy legislation after Reuters report on Amazon lobbying | U.S. News & World Report
More privacy news is available at the Voices for Privacy blog.
First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties
- What happens if Tennessee’s law on teaching of race is violated? New rule spells out the consequences | Tennessean
- Order blocking New York Times coverage of Project Veritas stays in place | The New York Times
- Opinion: Project Veritas says it stands for the First Amendment. Its recent court filings suggest otherwise. | The Washington Post
- Federal courts side with Bargersville in First Amendment lawsuit | Daily Journal
- ACLU claims Sacramento sheriff illegally transferred inmates to immigration authorities | Los Angeles Times
- US added to list of ‘backsliding’ democracies for first time | The Guardian
- Federal judge enjoins Vermont clerks from withholding First Amendment access | Courthouse News Service
- Rittenhouse and the Right’s strategy of deputizing vigilantes | Slate
- SCOTUS refuses to hear Project Veritas case on Massachusetts’ ban of secret recording | Law & Crime
- School police have Black Lives Matter posters censored, students protest | Book Riot
- ‘Remain calm & pleasant.’ How state is asking employees to handle so-called ‘1st Amendment auditors’ | WXYZ
- Students who launched pro-slavery petition at Missouri high school sue after suspensions, expulsion | PBS
- The Best Defense of a Democratic Nation | Intellectual Freedom Blog
Access
- What does the future of content filtering look like for K-12 education? | Ed Tech Magazine
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- Congressional subcommittee announces investigation into UF’s academic freedom scandal | Independent Florida Alligator
- Controversy over UF professors testifying could be prelude of problems to come | Gainesville Sun
- After controversy, U. of Florida has a new policy on faculty testimony. Here’s what it says. | Chronicle of Higher Education
Journalism & Media
- New normal is normalized censorship | Random Lengths News
Information Literacy & Disinformation
- How Facebook and Google fund global misinformation | WIRED
- You can’t beat climate change without tackling disinformation | Newsroom
- Opinion: America is sick with information disorder. Time for a cure. | The Washington Post
- How state and local governments can combat disinformation | Governing
- Opinion: Belarus is borrowing from Russia again — this time, with disinformation | The Washington Post
International News
- The Toronto school board lost the plot and misguidedly rejected these books | Toronto Star
- Exclusive: Hong Kong public libraries purge 29 titles about the Tiananmen Massacre from the shelves | Hong Kong Free Press
- CNN airs live footage of its reporting on tennis star being censored in China | The Hill
- China bans celebrities from showing off wealth and ‘extravagant pleasure’ on social media, saying pop stars must comply with ‘core socialist values’ | Business Insider
- The Chinese government might be releasing videos to reassure the world that Peng Shuai is alive and well, but her presence on the country’s social media has been scrubbed clean | Insider
- Sudan has been censoring social media for the last 5 days | Reclaim the Net
Around the Web
- Editorial: Censoring books at schools and libraries is never a good idea | Chicago Sun-Times
- School libraries and controversial books: Tips from the front lines | Education Week
- School is for learning — including learning about race and gender | EIN
- Pride and prejudice: Forget critical race theory — let’s talk about critical race facts | Salon
- Critical race theory debates are drowning out learning experiences for students | Ms. Magazine
- What was the first banned book in history? | Salon
- Why is the book ‘Gender Queer’ being removed from public school libraries, and is it ‘obscene?’ | Blue Ridge Public Radio
- Critical race theory creeps into local school board races | The Day [CT]
- Nikole Hannah-Jones: Anti-CRT coverage is a ‘propaganda campaign’ | KAKE
- Here are the books parents want to ban in schools now | Vice
- Ruth Bass: Championing freedom? Hang on to freedom to read | Berkshire Eagle
- Push to challenge, ban books causing commotion for libraries | KXLF
- Young adult Latino literature faces conservative backlash | Axios
- Texas mother organizes transgender storytime after library faced threats over ‘Rainbow Storytime’ on Transgender Day of Rememberance | The Hill
- Montclair Library Director leaving for new post, as fraught talks with township continue | Montclair Local
- My book was censored in China. Now it’s blacklisted — in Texas. | The New York Times
- What people miss in the conversation about banned books | NPR
- Nebraska ballot initiative would eliminate state Board of Education | Los Angeles Blade
- West Virginia textbook battle shows how GOP turned its image from ‘blue blood to blue collar’ | The Guardian
- Parents should not be able to dictate what other parents’ children can read — Opinion | Miami Herald
The Merritt Fund Promotional Toolkit
ALA News
- Registration now open for ALA’s LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience conference
- Activist, philanthropist and author Colin Kaepernick to close LibLearnX
- Virginia Library Association joins ALA Joint Student Membership Program as the 50th partner
- SRRT to celebrate 20 Years of the Rise Feminist Book Project for ages 0-18
Awards & Grant
eLearning
- United for Libraries’ Dec. 14 Learning Live session to educate on building strong library policies
- Saying No: Harassment Intervention at the Library Webinar
- Tools for Locating Primary Sources in Archives and Online
Publishing
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