Intellectual Freedom News 2/5/2021
Highlights
- ALA, United for Libraries Urge Lafayette Library Board to Reinstate Program on Voting Rights: “By providing your community with opportunities to engage in conversations with historians and scholars about topics of importance, you will send a powerful message to the public – that history is not a political debate, it is fact,”
Censorship
- Canyon ISD Has Parents Arguing Over Censorship And Books Again | Thunder987.com
- Lafayette library board kills voting rights grant over ‘far left’ speakers | News | theadvocate.com
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- States emboldened to move on biometrics privacy legislation | Biometric Update
- Virginia Set to Become Second State to Pass a Comprehensive Privacy Law | WilmerHale
- Your App Knows You Got Your Period. Guess Who It Told? | New York Times
- The Wild West of Smartphone Data and Surveillance | Council on Foreign Relations
More privacy news is available at the Choose Privacy Every Day blog.
First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties
- Police in Libraries: What the Cop-Free Library Movement Wants | Teen Vogue
- Republicans Respond to Black Lives Matter with Anti-Protest Bills | Pew Stateline
- The Tension Between Online Hate Speech and Preserving Free Speech | Governing
- Poway Schools Face $400,000 Cory Briggs Legal Bill After Losing Facebook-Blocking Lawsuit | Times of San Diego
- Michigan State Police use of an encrypted phone app raises lawmakers’ concerns | Michigan Radio
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- FCC Seeks Comment on Using E-Rate Funding to Support Remote Learning | Federal Communications Commission
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- Concerns about Censorship by Zoom and other Private Platforms | University of California Faculty Senate
- Speech Org. Settles With U of Illinois About Bias Response | Inside Higher Ed
- Iowa universities apologize for ‘egregious’ free speech errors | WCFCourier.com
- UTHSC student sues school, lawsuit claims she was nearly expelled for her social media posts | ActionNews 5 (TN)
Social Media
- Banning White Supremacy Isn’t Censorship, It’s Accountability | Wired
- False Accusation: The Unfounded Claim that Social Media Companies Censor Conservatives | NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights
- Florida lawmakers challenge Silicon Valley over ‘censorship’ | Associated Press
- Various States All Pile On To Push Blatantly Unconstitutional Laws That Say Social Media Can’t Moderate | Techdirt
- The Wall Street Journal Misreads Section 230 and the First Amendment | Lawfare
- This is the Democrats’ plan to limit Section 230 | Protocol
Copyright
- A Big Science Publisher Is Going Open Access. But at What Cost? | unDark.org
- Copyright and Fanfiction: A Primer | Intellectual Freedom Blog
Journalism, Media, & Disinformation
- Why we’re removing comments on most of Inquirer.com | Philadelphia Inquirer
- Among Local Media, Conversions to Nonprofit Ownership Accelerate | Nonprofit Quarterly
- How Censorship Can Influence Artificial Intelligence | WIRED
International News
- Bestselling author Philip Pullman joins calls to ‘save’ National Library of Wales | Nation Cymru
- Myanmar Blocks Facebook Access After Online Protests of Military Coup | Wall Street Journal
- Chaucer to be Scrapped As British University ‘Decolonizes’ Curriculum | Sydney Morning Herald
Around the Web
- He Wants to Save Classics From Whiteness. Can the Field Survive? | New York Times
- Picture Book History Comes to Life in Kent State’s Reinberger Children’s Library Center | kentwired.com
- Petition to remove Utah school board member cites comments about LGBTQ students, Black Lives Matter | Salt Lake City Tribune
ALA News
ALA Publishing
- An introduction to data science
- Sourcebooks and American Library Association collaborate on new series
- An updated playbook for chief data officers
Awards and Grants
- Julia M. Gelfand named 2021 ACRL Academic/Research Librarian of the Year
- 2021 Outstanding Reference Sources List Announced
- 2021 Reading List: Year’s best in genre fiction for adult readers
- 2021 Listen List Revealed
- Reader’s Advisory Experts Announce 2021 Notable Books List
- “Deacon King Kong,” “Fathoms: The World in the Whale” receive 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction
- Nominations sought for The Penguin Random House Library Award for Innovation
- Call for nominations for Scholastic Library Publishing Award
- Applications sought for Noble Librarians Faced With Adversity
- ALA Medal of Excellence nominations open
- 2021 Over the Rainbow Book List features 48 titles for adult readers
- Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table Announces 2020 Best Graphic Novels for Adults Reading List Titles
- School librarians invited to apply for $5,000 Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award
- Haverkamp receives YALSA’s Joann Sweetland Lum Memorial Grant
eCourses and Webinars
- Reach users with disabilities using your library’s virtual presence with the March 9 Core webinar Using Your Library’s Virtual Presence to Reach Users with Disabilities
- Discover the Basics of Planning a Batch Cataloging Project, a Core webinar, on March 3, 2021
- Explore Transformational Change in University Libraries due to COVID-19, a Core webinar, on March 2, 2021
- United for Libraries Learning Live session Feb. 23 to focus on Proactive Advocacy and Communication for Library Trustees and Staff
- Learn how to navigate the legal system during COVID in this free Core webinar
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