Intellectual Freedom News 4/11/2025
Highlights
- American Library Association kicks off National Library Week with the Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2024 and the State of America’s Libraries Report | ALA
- American Library Association, AFSCME Challenge Trump Administration Gutting of Institute of Museum and Library Services | ALA
- Multi-state Coalition Suing to Stop Dismantling of Federal Agencies That Support Libraries, Museums, Minority-Owned Businesses, and Workers | Oregon Dept. of Justice
- ALA Releases State of America’s Libraries 2025 Report | American Libraries
- Book Rating Websites as Tools for Censorship | ALA-OIF
- Four of the Big Five Publishers Sign Letter Urging Congress to Restore IMLS | Words & Money
- George M. Johnson’s ‘All Boys Aren’t Blue’ tops 2024 list of most ‘challenged’ US library books | AP
- United for Libraries and Penguin Random House announce recipients of grants to U.S. rural and small libraries | ALA
Censorship
- Maya Angelou memoir, Holocaust book among DEI purge at Naval Academy library | NBC Philadelphia (MD)
- List of Books Removed from USNA Library | U.S. Navy (MD)
- Book ban at military service academies draws flak from Congress | USA Today (MD)
- PEN America on 381 Banned Books at the U.S. Naval Academy: “Books are not the enemy; ignorance is the enemy.” | PEN America (MD)
- Naval Academy names new commandant amid controversy over book ban | Capital Gazette (MD)
- The Navy can’t fight for freedom while banning books | Hill
- The White House Frames the Past by Erasing Parts of It | New York Times
- Debate on library books heard in Michigan Court of Appeals | WZZM (MI)
- Military spouses living with censorship, fear | Las Vegas Sun
- Author’s School Visit Postponed “Until Better Times” | School Library Journal (MO)
- Elizabeth school district ordered to return banned books to library shelves — again | CPR (CO)
- NCAC Defends Fairhope Library’s Freedom to Read | NCAC (AL)
- Fullerton city council to define allowed publications in city facilities | Daily Titan (CA)
- Ohio GOP leader says staffer sent unauthorized email threatening library funding over ‘specific ideologies’ | Cleveland.com (OH)
- Mississippi libraries ordered to delete academic research in response to state laws | Mississippi Today (MS)
- Parents demand action on ‘inappropriate books’ in Catoosa County Schools | NewsChannel9 (GA)
- Suffield library commission considers removing some LGBTQ+ material from children’s section | FOX61 (CT)
- Hundreds join meeting of CT library commission seeking to censor LGBTQ books | Hartford Courant (CT)
- Radnor school board could return banned books to the high school library | Philadelphia Inquirer (PA)
- Rutherford County School Board votes to remove 16 books, retain 5 | WSMV (TN)
- Penfield schools begin evaluating challenged books | WXXI (NY)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- ‘Catch and Revoke’ Program Takes Off: State Department AI-Driven Visa Crackdown | JDSupra
- The Shocking Far-Right Agenda Behind the Facial Recognition Tech Used by ICE and the FBI | Mother Jones
- Top I.R.S. Officials Said to Resign After Deal to Give ICE Migrants’ Data | New York Times
- Department of Education Issues Guidance on Student Privacy and Parental Rights, Imposes Reporting Requirements for State Educational Agencies | JDSupra
- Trump Weakens U.S. Cyberdefenses at a Moment of Rising Danger | New York Times
- Google tools required for classwork are allegedly being used to build data profiles of each student | Tom’s Hardware
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- Cultural groups across U.S. told that federal humanities grants are terminated | NPR
- California State Library Receives Notice of Termination of Federal Grant by IMLS | California State Library (CA)
- WA libraries sound alarm after feds cancel $4M grant: ‘Downright cruel’ | News Tribune (WA)
- An attack on the Constitution? Why Trump’s moves to punish law firms are causing alarm | USA Today
- Justice Dept. Lawyers Are Struggling to Defend Trump’s Policies in Court | New York Times
- Freedom of speech is shifting under the Trump administration. We’re exploring how | NPR
- They had left their DEI roles. Trump still fired them | NPR
- Manipulated video of Coppell ISD ‘political fodder’ in ‘school choice’ fight, filing says | Dallas Morning News (TX)
- Trump Signs Orders Punishing Those Who Opposed His 2020 Election Lies | New York Times
- PEN America and Maryland ACLU Argue in Legal Filing that U.S. Education Department Policies Will Turbocharge Book Bans and Expand Censorship | PEN America
- ‘Citizenship won’t save you’: Free speech advocates say student arrests should worry all | NPR
- ACLU files suit to block Alien Enemies Act deportations | Hill
- ACLU Condemns House Passage of Anti-Voter SAVE Act, Calls on Senate to Reject It | ACLU
- ACLU Files Lawsuit in Texas to Block Removals Under Alien Enemies Act | ACLU
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- Trump Administration Freezes $1 Billion for Cornell and $790 Million for Northwestern, Officials Say | New York Times
- Academic freedom in the US is under threat – universities of the world, unite! | Guardian
- Senate Panel Demands Information About Gaza Protest Group at Columbia | New York Times
- Statement on the Academic Freedom and Independence of U.S. Institutions of Higher Education | Political Science Now
- Trump Administration Cuts Research Funding, Claiming It Creates ‘Climate Anxiety’ | New York Times
- Encouraging Harvard to Resist | Harvard Magazine
Legislation
- Nevada legislative committees advance education-related bills | Las Vegas Sun (NV)
- Bill bans book banning | KOLO (NV)
- Texas lawmaker, librarians discuss Senate Bill 13, which would guard against inappropriate books in public schools | KWTX (TX)
- The Florida Legislature could change the rules for how schools can evaluate challenged books | WLRN (FL)
- Here’s why Florida’s book challenge law keeps changing every year | Suncoast News (FL)
- N.C. Senate bill to challenge state Supreme Court ruling on release of student disciplinary records | Daily Tar Heel (NC)
- Bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives goes to full House of Delegates | WV Metro News (WV)
- Ohio Republicans fumble after grabbing “the tail of a wolverine” in library attack | Cleveland.com (OH)
- Online protections advance despite First Amendment concerns | Nebraska Public Media (NE)
- Florida lawmaker Randy Fine’s attempt to ban pride flags falls flat | Queerty (FL)
State & Local Governance
- In face of Trump’s order to ban DEI in public schools, divides form in New England | Boston Globe
- Pennsylvania Says Schools Already Comply with Civil Rights Laws and Are Not Ordered to Scrap DEI | Bucks County Beacon (PA)
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- Let your voice be heard: Help shape FCC regulations | WTNH
- How the FCC could change under more White House control | Federal News Network
- FCC seeks input on ‘Delete, Delete, Delete’ initiative | WPRI
Social Media & AI
- U.S. says it is now monitoring immigrants’ social media for antisemitism | NPR
- The worries about AI in Trump’s social media surveillance | Politico
- Meta whistleblower to testify before Senate panel that Facebook worked “hand in glove” with Chinese government to censor posts | CBS News
Journalism & Media
- Pronouns in Bio? You May Not Get a Response From the White House. | New York Times
- Trump-appointed judge orders White House to restore Associated Press access | MSNBC
Disinformation & Media Literacy
- Loomer’s Role in Firings Shows Rising Sway of Fringe Figures on Trump | New York Times
- Why academics must speak out against Trump and disinformation | Policy Options
- Kennedy Offers Qualified Support for Measles Vaccination | New York Times
- Protection vs. censorship: how to strike the right balance curbing online disinformation | World Economic Forum
- U.S. now world’s leading disinformation factory | Waterloo Region Record
International
- Call for expansion of Royal Navy surveillance after Kremlin spy devices found | Guardian (United Kingdom)
- Taiwan says China using generative AI to ramp up disinformation and ‘divide’ the island | Reuters (Taiwan)
- China censors some tariff-related content on social media | Reuters (China)
- The 10 most-challenged books in U.S. libraries have faced complaints in Canada, too | CBC (Canada)
- Govt bans 2 books ‘potentially detrimental to public order’ | FMT (Malaysia)
Around the Web
- 70 percent of book challenges come from groups, elected officials: Research | Hill
- Majority of attempts to ban books in US come from organised groups, not parents | Guardian
- New report shows it’s largely officials and organizations demanding books be banned – not parents | Independent
- Here’s the book that topped the 2024 list of most ‘challenged’ US library books | ABC News
- ‘All Boys Aren’t Blue’ tops the ALA’s list of most challenged books | NPR
- ‘Time is of the Essence’: ALA Sues Trump Administration to Save IMLS | Words & Money
- The ALA Sues Over the Scuppering of the IMLS | Publishers Weekly
- Being a librarian was already hard. Then came the Trump administration | Guardian
- The First Amendment is under attack — and silence is not neutrality | UB Spectrum
- Happy National Library Week | Penguin Random House
- Celebrating National Library Week at Charlotte Mecklenburg Library | WCNC
- Opinion: Libraries belong to all of us — not just the loudest voices | Anchorage Daily News
- How did St. Tammany’s library, long a source of controversy, win over voters? | NOLA
- NYCLU Statement on Hands Off! Rallies Across New York | NYCLU
- The right’s 60-year war on higher education | Salon
- The War on “Woke” and the Attack on Critical Race Theory | African Arguments
- Lack of racial knowledge predicts opposition to critical race theory, new research finds | PsyPost
- As Trump Tramples Freedoms, ACLU Teaches how to Stand up for Your Rights | ACLU
- When Trump Is Done, What Will Remain of Public Education? | New York Times
- Trump Admin. Funding Cuts Could Hit Efforts to Restore School Libraries | EducationWeek
- Right To Read: 4 Advocacy Organizations With Resources To Fight Book Bans | International Literacy Association
- Key Considerations as K-12 Leaders Navigate Minefield Involving DEI, Federal Funding, and Potential Investigations | JD Supra
- Knox appointed interim dean | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- As libraries face growing threats, UW’s library management and information programs lead national rankings | Daily UW
- Libraries are nonpartisan and necessary | Long Island Advance
- Support freedom by supporting libraries | Wilkes Journal-Patriot
- The Education Department Asked for Reports of DEI. It Might Get Something Else | 74
ALA News
- IMLS Cuts Put America’s Public Libraries at Risk
- 2024 Preservation Week® Webinar: Historical Newspapers in Public Libraries
- Teresa Anderson named executive director of the Association of College and Research Libraries
- AASL Opens Distinguished Service Award Nominations
- Core Webinar – Best of Core Forum: Looking Beyond Your Digital Repository; Metadata for Storytelling
- Core Announces 2025 Ballot Measure Outcomes
- Alexia Hudson-Ward elected ACRL vice-president/president-elect
- AASL Announces Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) Collection Development Grants
- Announcing the 2025 Core Election Results
- Dawkins elected as 2026-2027 AASL President
- Jamar Rahming Named PLA 2026-2027 President
- A library manager’s handbook for well-being
- Neal elected 2025-2028 ALA treasurer
- McCauley wins 2026-2027 ALA presidency
- Sara Turner awarded the 2025 Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity
- Deadline Extended to April 30: Application open for ALA Endowment Trustee position
- Core Webinar – Best of Core Forum: Mapping Your Skill Sets: Understanding and Using the Core Competencies for Cataloging & Metadata Professionals
- Public Libraries magazine announces 2024 Feature Article Contest winners
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