Intellectual Freedom News 5/17/2024
Highlights
- ALA announces 2024 recipients of distinguished library Intellectual Freedom Awards | ALA
- Webinar: Law and the Right to Read: What Your Trustees Need to Know | ALA
- Literacy Nation Inc. and EMIERT announce the 2nd Annual Freedom to Read-a-Thon at ALA Annual Conference | ALA
- Butler highlights bans on books with Senate reading series | Spectrum News
- ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom to benefit from new book of essays | ALA
- Former far-right hard-liner says pro-voucher billionaires are using school board races to sow distrust in public education | Texas Tribune
Censorship
- School Board keeps just one book in marathon meeting | Hernando Today (FL)
- Clay County School Board introduces new library policy after years of controversy | News4Jax (FL)
- Kearney school board receives update on library book selection, de-selection, reconsideration processes | KGFW (NE)
- Autauga-Prattville Public Library board faces lawsuit over book policies | WSFA (AL)
- Opinion | Why we’re suing the Prattville Library board | Alabama Political Reporter (AL)
- As Fort Worth ISD returns most banned books to shelves, questions remain about book access | Fort Worth Star-Telegram (TX)
- Prattville Library board intends to settle fired director’s lawsuit | Alabama Political Reporter (AL)
- Textbook decision tabled in Montgomery County after questions about process | Roanoke Times (VA)
- Pinellas school board member objects to ‘pornographic’ library book | Tampa Bay Times (FL)
- Kern Board of Education approves policy on appropriate books in classrooms, parents can now file complaints | KGET (CA)
- Cobb County Schools removes 4 additional books from libraries for ‘lewd,’ sexual content | 11Alive (GA)
- Prattville Library board will seek level funding amid controversy, lawsuits | Alabama Political Reporter (AL)
- NCAC objects to the removal of over 18 library books from Rutherford County Schools in Tennessee without adjudication from a committee of stakeholders | NCAC (TN)
- Interim director hopes to ‘cut through the noise’ after national coverage of Metropolis Library controversy | Paducah Sun (IL)
- Daviess County Public Library facing further “pornographic book” scrutiny | 14News (KY)
- A GOP Texas school board member campaigned against schools indoctrinating kids. Then she read the curriculum. | Texas Tribune (TX)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Vermont passes data privacy law allowing consumers to sue companies | The Record
- Secrecy Concerns Mount Over Spy Powers Targeting US Data Centers | WIRED
- Senator Markey, colleagues urge DHS to investigate federal funding of Shotspotter gunshot detection system | Ed Markey
- ACLU v. NSA – FOIA Lawsuit Seeking Records About the NSA’s Use of Artificial Intelligence | ALCU
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- Librarians, Advocates Sue to Block Restrictive New Alabama Library Policies | Publishers Weekly (AL)
- NWLC files two complaints against book censorship in public schools | National Women’s Law Center
- Cobb County Schools faces civil rights complaint over books removed from libraries | WSB-TV (GA)
- Yolo County settles free speech suit with Moms For Liberty over trans athlete presentation | Tribune (CA)
- NC teacher who says he was fired for opposing Critical Race Theory wins settlement | News & Observer (NC)
- Court Strikes Down Nassau County Anti-Trans Sports Ban | NYCLU (NY)
- Schools are More Segregated than 30 Years Ago. But How Much? | 74
- Report: State by State, How Segregation Legally Continues 7 Decades Post Brown | 74
- The Cases Against Book Bans | Publishers Weekly
- Maryland parents can’t opt kids out of LGBTQ book curriculum, court rules | NBC News (MD)
- Mountville will give Lancaster library branch $13k after Drag Story Hour controversy | Local21 (PA)
- Removal of books with gay parents prompts federal complaint in Moore County Schools | WRAL (NC)
- Plaintiffs move to permanently block Arkansas library law | NPR (AR)
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- After the protest: Portland State University community grapples with broken trust and binary thinking | OPB (OR)
- Dozens of professors among those arrested in campus protests | CNN
- Judge rules Little Rock Central High School teachers can discuss critical race theory in classroom | Grio (AR)
- Student journalists without New Voices law navigate student censorship | Wayland Student Press Network
- The myth of “woke” indoctrination at American universities | Popular Information
- The New Assault on Academic Freedom | Progressive Magazine
Legislation
- Library obscenity bill dies in Senate: ‘The problem is not going to go away’ | 1819 News (AL)
- New IN law stirs debate over academic freedom, teacher training | WSIU (IN)
- The Antisemitism Awareness Act: What to know | Austin American-Statesman
- The state of book bans: South Carolina is poised to get worse | PEN America
- New law restricts access to library materials | 4WWL (LA)
- New education bill prohibits book bans, requires schools to adopt cell phone policies | KARE (MN)
Social Media
- AI-generated spam is starting to fill social media. Here’s why | NPR
- Legal experts say a TikTok ban without specific evidence violates the First Amendment | NPR
- TikTok creators sue U.S. government, say divestiture law violates First Amendment | CNBC
Disinformation & Media Literacy
- Libraries Turn to Data Dashboards to Fight Mistrust | Government Technology
- FBI warns that foreign adversaries could use AI to spread disinformation about US elections | Washington Post
- “Doubt and Deception: How Disinformation Impacts Equity and Erodes Public Health—A Case Study on Menthol Cigarette Bans” | Daily
International
- ‘Copycat’ book bans: How US activists are impacting Australian libraries | SMH (Australia)
- The Cumberland City Council book ban threatens to erase queer families. It’s a threat that deserves a serious response | ABC (Australia)
- Cumberland Council’s book ban has been overturned, but what is really happening in Australian libraries? | Conversation (Australia)
- Gender Queer was the last book an Australian council tried to ban. It’s still being appealed in federal court | Conversation (Australia)
- Pulp Friction: Inside the ‘ludicrous’ movement to ban controversial books | Post (New Zealand)
- Inside the decision to cancel a drag queen library event | 1 News (New Zealand)
- Rainbow Storytime: Rotorua Lakes Council reviews cancellation decision | Rotorua Daily Post (New Zealand)
Around the Web
- LGBTQIA+ Books Fly in the Face of Bans | School Library Journal
- HBO’s ‘Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’ spotlights MLive documentary on banned books | MLive
- Book Bans Are a Warning of Our Endangered Democracy | Tyee
- Virginia school board votes to restore schools’ Confederate names | Axios Richmond
- Schools were just supposed to block porn. Instead they sabotaged homework and censored suicide prevention sites | Florida Keys News
- VCU students walk out of commencement protesting Youngkin speech | Hill
- Menomonee Falls bakery cancels drag queen story time after threats on social media | WDJT
- School board member who once championed book bans now faces death threats for changing her mind | LGBTQ Nation
- 7 takeaways on how teachers are reacting to restrictions on discussing race and gender | Brookings
- A Leading Free Expression Group Is Roiled by Dissent Over Gaza | New York Times
ALA News
- May 2024 Online Learning with RUSA
- Core Webinar: Trailblazing Pathways Across the Digital Divide
- New Core Web Course: Fundamentals of Institutional Repositories
- Core Webinar: Accessible and Inclusive Library Design
- 2024 EBSCO Information Services Library Staff Development Award winner announced
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