Highlights

• Unite Against Book Bans Launches Book Résumés for Challenged Titles | Library Journal
• American Library Association’s Libraries Transforming Communities Initiative Receives Additional $10 Million in Funding | ALA
• Producer, educator and author Kwame Alexander and actor and author Max Greenfield to present at ALA 2024 Annual Conference & Exhibition in San Diego | ALA
• ALA launches campaign as it nears its 150th anniversary | ALA

Censorship

• Spring Branch ISD has been embroiled in book banning debates for years. Now they’re firing librarians | Houston Chronicle (TX)
• Conroe ISD Trustees Vote To Throw Out Thousands Of Classroom Books | Houston Press (TX)
• San Diego librarians’ work now involves battling censorship | KPBS (CA)
• NYC Council examining New York Public Library’s efforts to increase access to banned books | CBS News (NY)
  • NYC library reps will testify on book bans, local efforts to preserve access | PIX11 (NY)
• Leon County students, teachers grapple with teaching Black history | Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
• Hicks: Dorchester 2 asked to purge the shelves … again. So it goes. | Post and Courier (SC)
• Book committee meets to take on reviewing challenged books | Fluvanna Review (VA)
• Mat-Su School Board bans 1 book after months of committee review | Alaska Public Media (AK)
• Ga. board upholds teacher firing over book on gender identity | WRDW (GA)
• Controversy over books in school libraries hits Denton ISD head-on | CBS News (TX)
  • Parent Challenges Library Books in Local ISD | Dallas Express (TX)
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools changes e-book app over ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’ concerns | Charlotte Observer (NC)
• “It’s Best to Can­cel”: Resilient Lis­ten­ing and Our Kids Today | Jewish Book Council
• Some of the public still questions Yorkville School Board about book’s removal | WSPY News (IL)
• Protests interrupt Moms for Liberty meeting about removing books in Howard County | Baltimore Banner (MD)
• What federal courts have said about local library book bans | Alabama Reflector (AL)
• Virginia Beach School Board considers committee to keep ‘sexually explicit content’ out of libraries | Daily Press (VA)
• Sparks Fly At Heated Riverton Library Meeting Over American Library Association | Cowboy State Daily (WY)
• All 444 challenged books returned to Elkhorn Area School District libraries | Wisconsin Public Radio (WI)
• Milford Schools Review Books After Parent Complaints: Report | Patch (CT)
• Brookfield school board keeps controversial book on high school library shelves by a single vote | News Times (CT)
• Metropolis Public Library board votes to oust director amid censorship controversy | WPSD (IL)
• Bethel School Board Votes to Keep Controversial Book, Upholding Free Speech and Parental Choice | BNN (ME)
• This Idaho sheriff thinks he has the right to raid your library and decide what you can read | Reckon (ID)

Privacy & Cybersecurity

• Children’s Online Privacy Regulations Develop, Amidst Challenges | JDSupra
• Virginia Probe Finds Systemic Privacy Violations after Fairfax Data Release | 74 (VA)
• A Virtual Reality Tour of Surveillance Tech at the Border | Markup
• US looks at regulating connected vehicles to prevent abusers from tracking victims | AP
• This $4 Billion Car Surveillance Startup Says It Cuts Crime. But It Likely Broke The Law. | Forbes

First Amendment & Civil Rights

• Supreme Court questions Florida and Texas social media laws on First Amendment grounds | CNN
• North Carolina hearing challenges 135 death sentences on alleged racial bias in jury selection | WTVD (NC)
• Temecula Valley Unified can continue enforcing transgender policy, CRT ban | EdSource (CA)
  • Critical race theory ban at Temecula Valley Unified stands for now, judge rules | Los Angeles Times (CA)
• Texas governor responds to LGBTQ human rights criticisms: ‘The UN can go pound sand’ | Hill (TX)
• First National Speech Index shows a mixed bag for free speech | FIRE
• Ban on gender-affirming care for minors allowed to take effect in Indiana | Kansas City Star (IN)
• Kagan: Florida social media law seems like “classic First Amendment violation” | ArsTechnica

Academic Freedom & Student Speech

• California Students File Lawsuit Claiming High School Paper Censorship | VOA News (CA)
  • Journalism students, teacher file lawsuit against MVLA for alleged censorship and retaliation | Los Altos Town Crier (CA)
• The Fight Over DEI Arrives at Harvard | The Crimson (MA)
• ‘Intellectual reign of terror’: New College of Florida sanctioned by academic freedom group | WFLA (FL)
• Professors Evacuated, Put on Leave in Hectic Pro-Palestine Protest | Inside Higher Ed (CA)
• Purdue reaffirmation of academic freedom and faculty tenure | Purdue University (IN)
• Calls by Lawmakers to Disband LGBTQ Studies and Remove “Critical Race Theory” at Texas A&M | PEN America (TX)
• College Dorm Decorations Become a Front in the Campus Free Speech Wars | New York Times

Legislation

• NJ bill would protect librarians from harassment amid push to ban books | NorthJersey.com (NJ)
• Some Virginia lawmakers seek to limit book bans in school libraries | Prince William Times (VA)
• Ban on banning: state legislature passes anti-book banning bill | My Bellingham Now (WA)
• States Try To Strip Sex From Literature in Libraries, Schools | Reason
• Banning books may become harder across Colorado in proposed bill opposed by school boards | CPR News (CO)
  • Colorado bill to curb book bans in school and public libraries voted down in education committee | Chalkbeat Colorado (CO)
• Greeley-Evans District 6 follows 12 state bills that could affect local schools | Greeley Tribune (CO)
  • Bill that would have created committees to consider whether to ban books, other content killed by Education Committee | Colorado Politics (CO)
• Oregon Senate approves bill to ban book bans | OPB (OR)

State & Local Governance

• Freedom to Read Advocates Blast Alabama Library’s Ban on LGBTQ Book Purchases | Publishers Weekly (AL)

Net Neutrality & Broadband Access

• Tom Snyder: Is platform neutrality the next net neutrality? | WRAL Tech Wire
• Cable ISPs Seek Net Neutrality Guardrails From FCC | Broadband Breakfast
• Net Neutrality and the Future of State Broadband Regulation | AEI
• Content Delivery Networks Want to Be Excluded From Net Neutrality Rules | Broadband Breakfast

Disinformation & Media Literacy

• (Dis)information Wars | Brookings

International

• Meta to set up team to counter disinformation, AI abuse in EU elections | CNBC (EU)

Around the Web

• Inside One Publisher’s Fight Against Book Bans | Wall Street Journal
• The Right’s Long Game to End Public Education | Progressive
• Bay Area librarian who became social media star tells fans he’s resigning for his mental health | San Francisco Chronicle
• Houston and Spring Branch ISDs cut librarians. What it means for kids — and other districts. | Houston Landing
• Race and LGBTQ Issues in K-12 Schools | Pew Research Center
• Ryan Walters claims ‘Glass Castle,’ ‘Kite Runner’ contain porn. What do experts say? | Oklahoman
• The creator of ‘Heartstopper’ talks about her work and demand for LGBTQ stories | NPR
• The New York Public Library continues its nationwide ‘Books for All: Teen Banned Book Club’ with The Downstairs Girl | City Life
• More NJ adults concerned about school book banning than inappropriate content: poll | Asbury Park Press
• Public Libraries Take Censorship Battles to the Ballot Box | Williamsburg Yorktown Daily
• Georgia school board races attract more local and national interest | Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Colorado Springs’ annual Black History Month town hall delves into critical race theory | Gazette.com
• Beware the hollow horse: Why the current wave of censorship reveals the cracks in our democracy | University of Washington Magazine
• Oscar Nominated Doc Short ‘The ABCs of Book Banning’ Available for Free on YouTube (EXCLUSIVE) | Variety
• Faculty publish book on intellectual freedom | University of North Georgia
• ‘America Erased’ lays bare dangers of nationwide book bans & censorship in classrooms | Drum
• NYC is a ‘citadel of books’ in an age of censorship and bans: experts | PIX11
• Teaching Black history a year after Arkansas’ “indoctrination” ban | Axios
• How a Surprising Supreme Court Case Bolstered Conservative Education | TIME
• New database provides book resumes to fight censorship | Northern Virginia Daily

ALA News

• Nominations Open for 2024 Jean E. Coleman Library Outreach Lecturer
• Ann Sparanese is the 2024 recipient of SRRT’s Herb Biblo Outstanding Leadership Award for Social Justice and Equality
• March 2024 Online Learning with RUSA
• New from ACRL – “Supporting Student Parents in the Academic Library: Designing Spaces, Policies, and Services”
• Core Interest Group Week Features 30 Free Sessions from March 4-8
• March 2024 Online Learning with RUSA
• Core Webinar – Best of Core Forum: Translating Mission Statements into Metrics
• Core Announces Slate of Candidates for 2024-2025 Election

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