Highlights

• Politics and Children’s Books: Evidence from School Library Collections | Annenberg Brown University
• Lighting the Way | American Libraries
• Comedian, Actor, and Author Jesus Trejo to Present at 2024 LibLearnX | ALA

Censorship

• Protesters blockade San Fernando Library, shut down drag queen story event | Los Angeles Times (CA)
• Proposed collection policy causes Sumner County Library board member to resign | WKRN (TN)
• Mat-Su school board, superintendent get vote of ‘no confidence’ from district staff | Alaska News Source (AK)
• Battle over books continues at KUSD board meeting | Kenosha News (WI)
• Judge dismisses lawsuit against Michigan school district over ‘explicit’ books in library | Michigan Live (MI)
• Brainerd School Board begins work on new book policy | Brainerd Dispatch (MN)
• SC school district bans LGBTQ history book; limits access to titles by Morrison, Coates | Post and Courier (SC)
• Editorial: Huntington Beach will let neighbors censor neighbors’ reading choices. That’s wrong | Los Angeles Times (CA)
• School Board approves removal of two books | Suncoast News (FL)
• Catawba County school board member takes part in book discussion | Hickory Daily Record (NC)
• City commissioner explains objections to ‘banned books’ display | Caloosa Belle (FL)
• How Black Moms in Temecula Are Fighting the School Board’s Right-Wing Takeover | Nation (CA)
• CLN: Trustees taking away First Amendment rights | Coeur d’Alene Post Falls Press (ID)
• Huntington Beach goes ahead with dystopian library censors | Orange County Register (CA)
  • Apodaca: No matter what they call it, they’re banning books | Daily Pilot (CA)
• The superintendent of Cobb County School District in Georgia has removed two books in violation of policy | National Coalition Against Censorship (GA)
• School board candidate wanted West Des Moines investigated for child porn over two books | Des Moines Register (IA)
• Librarians, “Read Freely” react to APLS memo | Alabama Political Reporter (AL)
  • Alabama library service director fears state will make ‘having anything inappropriate or objectionable’ a ‘sin’ | Al.com (AL)
• A heated battle in Virginia’s largest school district tests the strength of ‘parent rights’ activism | NBC News (VA)
• Florida severs ties with national library organization over anti-censorship policies | WTSP (FL)
  • Florida joins conservative states severing ties with national library group | Politico (FL)
• A Downingtown school board candidate pretended to be the ‘Society of College Medicine’ to challenge books | Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
• Book Bans Have Reached Greater Pittsburgh’s Boardrooms and Ballots | Belt Magazine (PA)
• Book ban requests could cost Nazareth Area School District over $100,000 | Lehigh Valley News (PA)
• Fresno County Librarian Stepping Down | We Are Fresno County (CA)
  • Fresno County supervisor introduces proposal to check children’s books at libraries | MSN (CA)
• She regrets nothing: A Q&A with fired Saline County librarian Patty Hector | Arkansas Times (AR)

Privacy & Cybersecurity

• AI is lighting a fire under the data privacy debate, as President Biden’s new order makes clear | Fortune
• As FISA turns 45, time to rethink post-9/11 mass surveillance expansion under Section 702 | Hill

First Amendment & Civil Rights

• At the Supreme Court, ‘First Amendment interests all over the place’ | NPR
• Why We’re Taking the Fight for Trans Youth Health Care to the Supreme Court | ACLU

Academic Freedom & Student Speech

• The discourse is toxic. Universities can help. | New York Times
• DeSantis’s Censorship University System Is Causing a Brain Drain | Flagler Live (FL)
• Strictly Legal: Academic freedom on trial in Forest Hills School district | Cincinatti.com (OH)
• A Massachusetts high school student was forced to remove clothing that expressed support for Palestine | NCAC (MA)
• Israel-Palestine: ACLU Defends Campus Free Speech in Letter to Over 650 Colleges | Teen Vogue

Legislation

• A Public Library Bill: “Michigan Freedom to Read Act” | Michigan Library Association (MI)

State & Local Governance

• Opinion: House Education Committee addressing real needs of students and their families, not culture wars | WFMZ (PA)
• Over-budget CLN board severs from ALA | Coeur d’Alene Post Falls Press (ID)
• Alabama Public Library Service Board Director to recommend leaving American Library Association | CBS42 (AL)
  • State library service pulls out of ALA under pressure from state government | Alabama Political Reporter (AL)
• Book bans and school bathrooms: Republicans to test power of ‘parents’ rights’ movement in Virginia | Guardian (VA)
  • Virginia parents are over Youngkin’s old classroom culture war playbook | Washington Post (VA)
• Superintendent Degenfelder and WDE launch guidance for establishing or modifying library material policy | Wyoming Department of Education (WY)
  • Establishing or Modifying Library Material Policy | Wyoming Department of Education (WY)

Disinformation & Information Literacy

• Generative AI Is Playing a Surprising Role in Israel-Hamas Disinformation | WIRED
• How to safeguard democracy from AI disinformation — in 2024 and beyond | Hill

International

• Britain is ‘omni-surveillance’ society, watchdog warns | Guardian (England)
• Cybersecurity incident takes down Toronto Public Library website, public computers | CTV News (Canada)

Around the Web

• TIMELINE: The impact of Libs of TikTok told through the educators, health care providers, librarians, LGBTQ people, and institutions that have been harassed and violently threatened | Media Matters for America
  • When Libs of TikTok tweets, threats increasingly follow | USA Today
• Moms for Liberty: Birchers in Heels | UnPopulist
• Does banning books really help kids? A childhood education expert weighs in | Phys.org
• 3 implications of book banning and the power of diverse literature | LGBTQ Nation
• Here’s why we must confront book-banning efforts in Minnesota and elsewhere | Star Tribune
• Artists Call for Boycott After Artforum Fires Its Top Editor | New York Times
• Increased Circulation: “Book Bans May Have Unintended Consequences in Increasingly Polarized United States” (Working Paper) | Library Journal InfoDocket
  • Book bans backfiring? Study reveals increased readership for prohibited books | WJLA
• Librarian feels Alabamians ‘betrayed’ by recommendation to leave American Library Association | Alabama.com
• A new place to learn civics: The workplace | New York Times
• Banned Book Readout draws support from elected officials, activists, community | UIC Today
• Grassroots groups battle to affect NJ school board races. Who are they? What’s at stake? | NorthJersey.com
• Covering school extremism | The Grade
• The impact book bans can have on youth mental health | KDKA
• Adams 12 school board candidate sent dozens of critical race theory-obsessed emails | Colorado Sun
• The Latest Target for California Conservatives? Local School Boards | New York Times
• Lyme school board race brings national censorship debate to the forefront | Day
• Book banning is key issue in some Danbury-area school board races | News Times
• On November ballot, Ohio libraries look for support | 74
• Can Humanities Survive the Budget Cuts? | New York Times
• Caro Area District Library receives Intellectual Freedom Award | Huron Daily Tribune

ALA News

• New ALA report: Gen Z & Millennials are visiting the library & prefer print books
• Reference Interview for Beginners
• AASL’s exploration of the Shared Foundations concludes with Curate

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