Intellectual Freedom News

January 29, 2016

Important Reminder

• Report your challenges! OIF is working to finalize numbers for 2015 challenges and our annual list of most frequently challenged books. We collect information for our challenge database from both media reports and those submitted by individuals and, while we know that many challenges are never reported, we strive to be as comprehensive as possible. We would greatly appreciate if you could send us any information on challenges in your state or region that you are aware of from 2015. The final deadline for reporting 2015 challenges to OIF is Friday, February 26, 2016. ala.org/challengereporting

News

• Scholastic withdraws A Birthday Cake for George Washington because of complaints.
  • Book About George Washington’s ‘Happy’ Slaves Shelved | Think Progress;
  • Scholastic pulls controversial George Washington slave book | USA Today;
  • Teaching Kids About Slavery: Picture Books Struggle With The Task | NPR;
  • Take the Cake | Intellectual Freedom Blog

  Scholastic said, “we had withdrawn the book, not because of criticism, but because it did not meet the standards which support our publishing mission.” Full Statement

• Participate in NCTE’s 27^th National African American Read-In with these resources that include challenged authors; Jacqueline Woodson, Nikki Giovanni, Nikki Grimes, Langston Hughes, Walter Dean Myers, and Alice Walker. Analysis of the 2014 Banned Books Week lists discovered that authors of color, and books with themes about issues concerning the LGBT, minority, and the disability community are disproportionately challenged and banned.  Help promote and protect diversity in books.
• Behind the Scenes of Publishing’s First Diversity Baseline Survey On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 we will release the results of the Diversity Baseline Survey, the first major study to look at diversity among publishing industry staff. The Diversity Baseline Survey (DBS) focuses on four different aspects of diversity: race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. The goal is to establish a baseline that shows where we are now as an industry, and that will help us measure progress moving forward. The results of the Diversity in Publishing Baseline Survey.
• Virginia Legislation | House bill would allow parents to veto sexually explicit materials in classroom

Censorship                                               

• World History Ancient Civilizations; Retired educator addresses Islam in textbook concerns | Highlands Today
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; ‘Indecent’ Snow White book removed from Qatar school | Deccan Chronicle
• American Idiot; Green Day Call ‘Censorship’ Over High School ‘American Idiot’ Cancellation | Rolling Stone

Privacy

• Google Will Soon Shame All Websites That Are Unencrypted |Vice Motherboard
• Virginia Legislation| Public Access to the Library Records of Minors |Virginia Legislative Information System
• Wisconsin Legislation | Committee Oks Bill Expanding Library Powers | Associated Press; Bill gives Wisconsin public libraries power to report delinquent borrowers | Badger Herald
• Opinion:  It’s Time to Embrace Privacy by Design |Christian Science Monitor
• How an Overreaction to Terrorism Can Hurt Cybersecurity |MIT Technology Review
• Opinion: Schools fail to recognize privacy consequences of social media |Christian Science Monitor

Around the Web

• What World Are We Building?  | Medium / Data & Society
• Content Filtering Would Hurt Free Speech and Innovation | Huffington Post

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