Intellectual Freedom News 4/24/20
Highlights
- ALA releases 2020 State of Libraries report
- Mark your calendar, ALA Virtual: Community through Connection June 24-26, 2020
- Top 10 Most Challenged Books List
- National groups condemn attacks on LGBTQ stories | National Coalition Against Censorship
- Eight of 10 most-banned books challenged for LGBTQ content | NBC News
- There’s a Common Thread Tying Together 2019’s ‘Most Challenged’ Books: L.G.B.T.Q. Issues | New York Times
- 2020 Banned Books Week theme announced | BTW
Library Services & COVID-19 Resources
- ALA COVID-19 response; “The resources on this page represent the ongoing work at ALA during these challenging times. We are pressing forward in anticipation of what you and your library need from us and what your communities need from you.”
- Pandemic Preparedness: Resources for Libraries | American Library Association
- As Schools Shift to Online Learning Amid Pandemic, Here’s What We Know About Disabled Students in the U.S. | Pew Research Center
- Expanded Library Resources Offer Help During Crisis | CBLDF
- For Librarians, Supporting Student Reading Remains a Core Service | SLJ COVID-19 Survey | School Library Journal
- A Plan for Getting Books Returned? We’ll Deal With That Later, Say Librarians. | SLJ COVID-19 Survey | School Library Journal
- Public Libraries See Uptick in Digital Checkouts of YA, Kids’ Books. Juvenile Fiction Jumps 68% Since Pandemic. | School Library Journal
- Book Sales, Digital Circulation Looking Up as Industry Continues to Embrace Online Environment | Library Journal
Censorship
- School Board removes books from curriculum | Frontiersman News (AK)
- LISTEN: Mat-Su School Board book ban draws ire after vote with no public comments | Alaska Public Radio
- Mat-Su school board pulls five books from English courses, including ‘Invisible Man’ and ‘Catch-22’ | Anchorage (AK) Daily News
- Mat-Su school board bans 5 books from high school reading list | 11 KTVA (AK)
Privacy and Cybersecurity
- Data Privacy and Security: An Interview with Author and Technologist Bruce Schneier | Choose Privacy Everyday
- Expert Views: Contact tracing to drones: Will coronavirus surveillance outlast the pandemic? | Reuters
- ICE Has Access to DACA Recipients’ Personal Information Despite Promises Suggesting Otherwise, Internal Emails Show | ProPublica
- Leaked pics from Amazon Ring show potential new surveillance features | Ars Technica
- State-backed phishing targets govt employees with fast food lures | Bleeping Computer
Additional privacy posts, news, and updates are available at the Choose Privacy Every Day blog.
Access
- U.S. Appeals Court Revives Suit Recognizing Right of Access to Literacy | Education Week
- Learning Everywhere: Open Educational Resources in the COVID-19 Era | Newswise
- As schools shift to online learning amid pandemic, here’s what we know about disabled students in the U.S. | Pew Research Center
- The race to save the first draft of coronavirus history from internet oblivion | MIT Technology Review
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- COVID-19 and the Distance Learning Gap | AnnenbergEnd the digital divide. Our children are being left behind. | Washington Post
- What We Don’t Know About Teachers’ Home Internet Access | New America
- Getting free internet is hard for poor students despite provider promises, survey finds | Los Angeles Times
- With limited internet, one mom finds a way to home-school outside the home | Today – NBC News
- How the FCC can give all Americans internet access during this pandemic | Washington Post
- Rural Broadband and the American Farmer | United Soybean Board
- America’s Broadband Moment | Benton Institute for Broadband & Society
- The next coronavirus relief bill needs to solve America’s unbanked and unwired crises | The Hill
- She Babysits the Internet During Coronavirus Crisis to Keep You Productive | Wall Street Journal
- AT&T gave FCC false broadband-coverage data in parts of 20 states | Ars Technica
- What happens to the internet when the coronavirus pandemic is over? | The Hill
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- What Will COVID-19 Mean For Academic Freedom? | Forbes
- Report: Public Universities Censor Social Media Speech | Inside Higher Ed
Hate Speech | Hate Crimes
- “A Civilized Term for Hate Crime”: How to protect your library from Zoombombing | American Libraries
Fake News, Free Press, Social Media
- Facebook removes some events calling for protests of stay-at-home orders |NBC News
- No, the Internet Is Not Good Again | The Atlantic
- Coronavirus Threatens Press Freedom Around the World, Report Says | New York Times
- Missouri sues China over coronavirus, claims nation “lied to the world” | Ars Technica
- Beware of these fake text messages and robocalls going around about the coronavirus | CNN
- Misinformation During a Pandemic | University of Chicago
First Amendment & Free Speech
- Despite the Coronavirus Pandemic, the Government Is Still Targeting L.G.B.T.Q. Rights | The New Yorker
- COVID-19 and the First Amendment: A Running Report (April 23) | The Free Speech Center
- Free Speech vs. Pandemic Safety: CHP Will Now Deny Permits For Coronavirus Protests At State Facilities | CBS Sacramento (CA)
Around the Web
- The Library Bill of Rights: What they are and what they mean for you | Book Riot
- Why You Shouldn’t Do Curbside During COVID-19 | Library Journal (Opinion)
- Drama’s 5th year on ALA’s Most Banned & Challenged List | CBLDF
- Prison Censorship in the age of pandemics | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- Fighting Censorship & Challenges to Powerful Teen Texts | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- Classroom Libraries are for Reading, Not Censorship | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- Listen up! Read-aloud challenges | Intellectual Freedom Blog
- Fight Identity Censorship: Spotlight LGBTQ+ Comics at Your Shop | CBLDF
International Issues
- Twenty-third Plenary session: EDPB adopts further COVID-19 guidance | European Data Protection Board
- Dutch students raise privacy concerns over online exam surveillance | Reuters
- Rift opens over European coronavirus contact tracing apps | Reuters
- Israeli Phone Apps Aim to Track Coronavirus, Guard Privacy | U.S. News & World Report
- In Pandemic, a Remote Russian Region Orders a Lockdown on Information | New York Times
- Exclusive: Facebook agreed to censor posts after Vietnam slowed traffic – sources | Reuters
ALA News
- Join the “IFRT Reads” community; “IFRT Reads” is a virtual discussion group where IFRT members have opportunities to expand their knowledge and current awareness of intellectual freedom topics by discussing a shared reading venture. There will be a Connect discussion and a live group discussion for each reading.
- ALA National Library Workers Day Statement | American Libraries
- Newest issue of The Journal of Intellectual Freedom & Privacy is now available
- New Wonder Woman, Banned Books Week materials, and more from ALA Graphics
- Access to ALA Editions | ALA Neal-Schuman textbooks during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Freedom to Read Foundation Launches Webinar Series; next webinar April 28
- LLAMA webinars while you work from home; April 29
- K-8 libraries invited to apply for $5,000 award recognizing outstanding programming; due May 4
- ALA seeks proposals for 2020 Diversity Research Grants; due May 15
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