Highlights

• Libraries: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | Youtube
• Why Book Bans Are Bad for Mental Health | Psychology Today
• ALA partners with League of Women Voters to empower voters in 2024 | ALA

Censorship

• The national surge to ban books has hooks in North Dakota. | Prairie Public (ND)
• The St. Tammany Parish Council voted to replace nearly every member of its library board | NOLA.com (LA)
• Local parents file complaints for six books on school shelves | Transylvania Times (NC)
• Hernando County School Board removes 19 book titles from campus libraries | WUSF (FL)
• Book ban: Horry County school board members should find their spines | State (SC)
• School district in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, removes books from library | WYFF (SC)
• Library controversy continues in Pickens County | FOX Carolina (SC)
• County School Board Returns ‘The Invisible Boy’ To Libraries | Daily News-Record (VA)
• Cheyenne School District May Pass Wyoming’s Strictest Library Sex Book Policy | Cowboy State Daily (WY)
• Cy-Fair ISD board votes to remove chapters teaching vaccines and cultural diversity from textbooks | Houston-Chronicle (TX)
• Fort Worth ISD releases list of books returning to library shelves after 9-month review | Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
• North Hunterdon-Voorhees book banners lose again; board prez says other work to be done | My Central Jersey (NJ)

Privacy & Cybersecurity

• Report shows CBP expanding mass surveillance system along Mexican border | Record
• Congress Pushes for Sweeping Tech Regulation to Protect Children’s Privacy | JDSupra

First Amendment & Civil Rights

• Federal lawsuit challenges Prattville library policies | Alabama Political Reporter (AL)
• Activists protest book bans, curriculum censorship outside SCOTUS | NewsNation
• Interim agreement reached for Arab student union in pro-Palestinian speech censorship case at D.C. high school | ACLU
• Arkansas judge delivers mixed ruling in critical race theory ban case | NPR (AR)
  • Arkansas cannot prevent 2 teachers from discussing critical race theory in classroom, judge rules | ABC News (AR)

Academic Freedom & Student Speech

• American Civil Liberties Union suing Purdue University | WLFI (IN)
• ‘Freedom to Learn’ protests have a clear message: ‘We will be woke’ | USA Today
• Police tactics at campus protests reveal disparities in approaches to public order and lessons learned post-George Floyd | CNN
• ACLU sues to block law that might limit college professors’ free speech rights | IndyStar (IN)
• The Constitutional Right to Protest at Universities | National Constitution Center
• ACLU legal experts offer advice, training in light of college protests | Atlanta News First
• House Republicans Clash With Leaders of Public Schools Over Antisemitism Claims | New York Times
  • On the hot seat in Washington, Chancellor Banks defends NYC schools’ response to antisemitism | Chalkbeat (NY)
• ‘Restraints on academic freedom’: MTA President condemns UMass Amherst after 130 arrests | Boston25News (MA)

Legislation

• Bill targeting campus antisemitism passes House despite censorship and other concerns | Times-Tribune
• Lawmakers deliberate bill that would give young Vermonters confidential access to library materials | Vermont Public (VT)
• Bill to Protect Colorado Libraries From Book Bans Passes House | Colorado House Democrats (CO)

Net Neutrality & Broadband Access

• FCC reinstates net neutrality policies after 6 years | NPR
• FCC Closes ‘Fast Lane’ Loophole in Final Net Neutrality Order | WIRED

Social Media

• Pa. House passes bill requiring parental consent on social media, despite first amendment concerns | Pennsylvania Capital-Star (PA)

Disinformation & Media Literacy

• Campus Protests Give Russia, China and Iran Fuel to Exploit U.S. Divide | New York Times
• Why disinformation is more dangerous than ever | Economist

International

• Israeli Cabinet Votes to Shut Down Al Jazeera’s Operations in the Country | New York Times (Israel)
• NSW government threatens some Western Sydney libraries’ funding over same-sex parenting book ban | ABC News (Australia)

Around the Web

• ‘I can say things other people are afraid to’: Margaret Atwood on censorship, literary feuds and Trump | Guardian
• 4 Lawsuits Challenging Book Bans | Michigan Chronicle
• When Conservative Parents Revolt | Atlantic
• John Oliver on public libraries: ‘Another front in the ongoing culture war’ | Guardian
  • “Doesn’t feel like a coincidence”: John Oliver alarmed over right-wing efforts to censor libraries | Salon
• Why Laphonza Butler is reading banned books out loud on the Senate floor | Roll Call
• Exploring Public Opinion on Public School Book Bans | PA Times
• Librarians under attack in the wake of rising book challenges and bans | NJ.com
• Censorship Showdown: Texas School Board Elections Target Book Bans | ReformAustin
• Book bans in California? How lawmakers, book stores defend diverse literature choices | Sacramento Bee
• Right-Wing Extremists Continue Their War on What’s Really Hurting Our Kids: Books | PrideSource
• Broward County Library Honored for Championing Intellectual Freedom | PR Newswire
• What a Difference 2 Years Makes: Recapping the May 2024 Texas School Board Elections | Anger & Clarity
• Barnes: Even the banning of books is bigger in Texas | San Antonio Express-News
• Stanford’s Censorship: A History of Academic Freedom | Stanford Review
• Don’t think fascism could happen here? You haven’t tracked the school book bans. | Opinion | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
• America’s unseen book bans: the long history of censorship in prisons | Guardian
• ‘Poetics of Encryption’: Can Algorithms Access Hidden Knowledge? | ArtReview

ALA News

• Core Webinar – Best of Core Forum: An Integrated Approach to a Diversity Audit
• Patty Hector receives the 2024 Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity
• New from ACRL – “Toxic Dynamics: Disrupting, Dismantling, and Transforming Academic Library Culture”
• Supporting sustainable development goals through information science
• Greenfield Public Library Receives 2024 ALSC/Candlewick Press Light the Way Grant
• Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table celebrates the Denver Public Library and the Warren Public Library as the 2024 recipients of the Will Eisner Graphic Novel Grants for Libraries
• Core Webinar – Best of Core Forum: Cultivating Equitable Hiring Practices for Academic Librarians; Bridging Perspectives of Applicants and Hiring Committees
• Nicole A. Cooke wins the Joseph W. Lippincott Award
• Syosset High School named National School Library of the Year
• ALA announces 2024 EMIERT David Cohen Award Recipients
• AASL Announces Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM) Collection Development Grants
• The networked school librarian
• Core Webinar: Moving Out of One-and-Done Strategic Planning

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