Intellectual Freedom News 3/22/2024
Highlights
- Cathi Fuhrman receives the AASL Intellectual Freedom Award | ALA
- International organisations for authors, publishers, booksellers and libraries call for key freedoms to be respected | IFLA
- American Library Association President Emily Drabinski to be honored with award from The Publishing Triangle | ALA
Censorship
- Have RI’s cozy local libraries become ground zero in the culture wars? | AOL (RI)
- Trussville Public Library reviewing book placements in wake of governor’s proposal | Trussville Tribune (AL)
- Whitmire: Why was an Alabama library director fired? Read between the lines. | AL.com (AL)
- Prattville library gets interim director amid book ban controversy | Montgomery Advertiser (AL)
- Autauga-Prattville Public Library Chair discusses recent controversy | WSFA (AL)
- Executive Director Joslyn Bowling Dixon fired by Oak Park’s library board | Wednesday Journal (NJ)
- UW-Milwaukee Golda Meir Library vandalized | Wisconsin Public Radio (WI)
- Arguments arise over ‘Drag Queen Story hour’ at Pennsylvania library | WPXI (PA)
- School district looking at policy revisions concerning complaints about books, educational materials | Berkshire Edge (MA)
- Publishers condemn ‘silent’ censorship of books trashed at Staten Island school | Gothamist (NY)
- Publishers Issue Letter to NYC DOE Over Discarded Books | Publishers Weekly (NY)
- Oak Park library director fired after board questions her actions related to Palestinian culture event | Chicago Tribune (IL)
- Student Walkout in PYLUSD to Reject the School Board Majority’s “Parental Rights” Movement | Fullerton Observer (CA)
- Audience angered by Millburn D24’s withdrawal from ‘left-leaning’ program; ‘Removing the whole program for three pages of a book … that made some board members uncomfortable is ludicrous’ | Chicago Tribune (IL)
- EveryLibrary and PEN America oppose proposed Huntington Beach, CA ordinance for community review of children’s library books | PEN America (CA)
- Huntington Beach approves rules for children’s book review board | Orange County Register (CA)
- Library system updates prompted by censorship debate reviewed by St. Tammany Parish Council | FOX 8 (LA)
- CASEY: Bestselling kids’ book featuring nonbinary tree spooks Floyd County schools | Roanoke Times (VA)
- Library Board reinstates book display ban | KATC (LA)
- Parents, preachers confront MISD board over library books | KOSA (TX)
- Author of book pulled from Lake Travis ISD elementary schools speaks out, as district considers removing two more books | KXAN (TX)
- Lake Travis school board to discuss challenges to two books Wednesday. Here’s what to know. | Austin American-Statesman (TX)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Data privacy, cybersecurity lead comments on COPPA Rule proposal | K-12 Dive
- What Every Company Should Know about Child and Teen Privacy in 2024 | JD Supra
- FBI’s deep surveillance at Standing Rock revealed in court | Environmental Health News
- Surveillance has a body count: The vast surveillance apparatus at the border is driving desperate people into more dangerous terrain, resulting in a 57 percent increase in recorded deaths at the US-Mexico border | Verge
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- BREAKING: NOTL’s chief librarian fired over column in The Lake Report | Niagra Now (NY)
- Supreme Court hears arguments on First Amendment cases | CNN
- Civil rights group address SB-4 concerns on individual rights | KGNS (TX)
- Avid Bookshop files First Amendment lawsuit | Red & Black (GA)
- Biden Wants To Avoid a First Amendment Showdown Over WikiLeaks | Reason
- Woman’s Arrest After Political Dispute Prompts a Lively Supreme Court Debate | New York Times (TX)
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- Indiana Law Could Endanger Tenure for Professors Who Speak Out Against Racism | Truthout (IN)
- Alabama governor signs law banning college DEI funding | Higher Ed Dive (AL)
- Oakland Tech student calls out censorship of school newspaper story critical of rising death toll in Gaza | CBS News (CA)
Legislation
- Updated library bill passes House after heated debate | Idaho Press (ID)
- Libraries are our most democratic institutions. Idaho’s House Bill 710 could threaten that. | Idaho Capital Sun (ID)
- Iowa Poll: Half say new law requiring schools to ban books depicting sex acts goes too far | Des Moines Register (IA)
- New bill requires parental consent for certain books | KATC (LA)
- New UW–Madison study traces spread of anti-LGBTQ+ bills and policies in Midwestern states | University of Wisconsin (WI)
- House takes up bevy of bills related to free speech in schools | New Hampshire Bulletin (NH)
- Gov. Cox signs bill making it easier to ban books from Utah schools statewide | Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
- A Nebraska bill to subject librarians to charges for giving ‘obscene material’ to children fails | ABC News (NE)
- Obscenity bill that could criminalize Nebraska librarians, teachers fails to advance | Nebraska Examiner (NE)
- A Nebraska Lawmaker Incites Outrage Over the Reading of a Book’s Rape Scene | New York Times (NE)
- ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law would be expanded to all public school grades in Alabama under proposal | AP (AL)
- Alabama governor signs ban on DEI funds that restricts ‘divisive concepts’ in schools | NPR (AL)
State & Local Governance
- Arkansas Education Department changes, removes social studies resources after Sanders’ executive orders | Arkansas Democrat Gazette (AR)
- Policing libraries, aka book banning, moves a step further in Arkansas | Arkansas Times (AR)
- Orange County Voters Recall School Officials Who Championed ‘Parental Rights’ Movement | LAist (CA)
- Texas State Board of Education faces takeover by GOP challengers backed by influential donors | Houston Chronicle (TX)
Social Media
- Takeaways from the Supreme Court’s oral arguments over social media censorship | CNN
- Supreme Court Voices Skepticism Over Social-Media Censorship Claims Against Government | Wall Street Journal
- Here’s When the Supreme Court Says School Officials Can Block Critics Online | 74
- A TikTok ban could embolden authoritarian censorship, experts warn | NBC News
Disinformation & Media Literacy
- How Trump’s allies are winning the war over disinformation | New York Times
- Supreme Court examines whether government can combat disinformation online | NPR
- Blinken Warns Democracy Summit of Dangers of Disinformation | VOA
- How disinformation ‘sabotages America’ | WBUR
International
- Community provides support after bomb threat at Thunder Bay Drag Queen Storytime event | CBC (Canada)
- Rotorua councillors clash over library Rainbow Storytime event | RNZ (New Zealand)
- Hong Kong’s new national security law might further erode civil liberties, some worry | NPR (China)
Around the Web
- Billionaires Yass, DeVos team up to dismantle public schools across the US – including KY | Forward Kentucky
- ‘Authors Against Book Bans’ mobilizes | Publishers Weekly
- The marketplace of ideas is under assault by far-right politicians | IndyStar
- Book Banning Attempts Are at Record Highs | Smithsonian Magazine
- Witness the chilling numbers behind 2023’s book ban surge | Into
- ‘An attack on our freedom to read’: Attempted book bans hit record high in 2023 in Ohio, libraries say | Cleveland.com
- Who Is Beating Back Book Bans? | Yes!
- Republicans use milquetoast phrases to dress up the same old attacks on public education | Tone Madison
- Bookstore stands behind children’s drag story time despite hateful comments | WKRC
- Drag queen story times offer families sense of belonging [column] | LancasterOnline
- First annual Unified Voices Summit for educational freedom | PEN America
- Instead of banning books, try talking to your kids | Alabama Political Reporter
- Third Graders Celebrate Read Across America with Juana Medina | NEA Today
- History Group Finds Little Evidence of K-12 ‘Indoctrination’ | Education Week
- Examining the economic cost of book bans | Marketplace
- Opinion | My brother isn’t permitted to read his own story. That’s a remnant of slavery. | Washington Post
- Nurture curiosity, not censorship | Alabama Reflector
- Bad Takes: Texas’ attacks on libraries are attacks on valuable public institutions | San Antonio Current
ALA News
- Felton Thomas, Jr. Receives 2024 ALA Equality Award
- Core ALA Annual Preconference: Managing Change and Holding Effective Difficult Conversations; Tools for Every Leader
- Core ALA Annual Preconference: Assembling Your Consultant Tool Kit; What You Need to Know to Become a Successful Consultant
- Core ALA Annual Preconference: Academic Library and Learning Spaces Tour
- Core ALA Annual Preconference: Public Library Tours
- Washington Library Association- School Library Division Awarded AASL ABC-CLIO Leadership Grant
- The Coretta Scott King Book Awards Round Table Invites Submissions for the 2025 Awards
- Wei Ling Goh Named 2023 Core/OCLC Spectrum Scholar
- Samantha Peter chosen as the 2024 recipient of the LIRT Librarian Recognition Award
- University of North Carolina Wilmington chosen as the 2024 recipient of the LIRT Innovation in Instruction Award
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