Intellectual Freedom News 6/17/2022
Highlights
- Freedom to Read Celebration, Supporting the Merritt Fund, and Featuring Banned Author David Levithan; Join the ALA Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) and the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF) along with banned author David Levithan, library professionals, authors, and friends for this 2022 Freedom to Read Celebration, Merritt Fund fundraiser, and reception. The organizations will honor the recipients of the FTRF Roll of Honor Award, John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award, Gerald Hodges Intellectual Freedom Chapter Relations Award, and Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award.
- Banned Books Take Over DC; At this year’s ALA conference, show some love for your favorite banned and challenged books by snapping a photo with one of IFRT’S banned book flyers.
Censorship
- Erie County school district removes “Gender Queer” book, while debate still roils in other districts | Broad + Liberty (PA)
- Library group again implores Wentzville school board to stop banning books | St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO)
- Woster: The banned-book saga continues, with new details in emails | South Dakota Public Broadcasting
- Geneseo residents bring up school safety, ‘critical race theory’ at Geneseo board meeting | Quad-City Times (IA)
- ‘Censorship is a slippery slope.’ Ashland library rejects call to remove five books | Mansfield News Journal (OH)
- Ken Paxton wants Texas to help defend Llano County officials being sued for banning books | Texas Tribune
- Elizabethtown book ban debate | ABC27 (PA)
- Not banning books: Lafayette Public Library clarifies position on not creating displays | KATC3 (LA)
- Deputies: Proud Boys disrupted drag queen storytelling at San Lorenzo library | CBS Bay Area (CA)
- Proud Boys disrupt San Lorenzo library drag queen story hour | Los Angeles Blade
- Mt. Lebanon parents file lawsuit alleging teacher misconduct on gender issues | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
- Opinion: First ban the books; then decide how to justify it | Lewiston Tribune (ID)
- How one book disappeared from Dare school libraries | Outer Banks Voice (NC)
- Dori: Kent, Tahoma parents found certain school reading material sexually ‘graphic’ and ‘inappropriate’ | KIRO (WA)
- Suburban Chicago school board keeps ‘Gender Queer’ book that conservative parents, Proud Boys wanted banned | Chicago Sun-Times (IL)
- Genderbread Person? Gone. Schools chief asks teachers to pull books, materials ahead of new law | Palm Beach Post (FL)
- Macon County commissioner denounces library Pride Month display; opposes funding increase | Asheville Citizen Times (NC)
- [Maryland] School board candidate checks out LGBT books in library to create ‘a safe place for children’ | South Florida Gay News
- Where does a sex ed book belong in the library? | Payson Roundup
- Parents upset after school librarian read gay children’s fairytale book to students | WUSA9 (VA)
- ‘A political circus’: Texas education board bracing for showdown over social studies curriculum | Houston Chronicle
- Nampa students, teachers, and parents protest banned books outside district office | CBS2 (ID)
- Utah Library Assoc., LGBTQ+ advocacy groups criticize Orem City Council for ‘censorship’ of city library’s child-oriented Pride Month display | Gephardt Daily (UT)
- Orem City Library director responds to ‘censorship’ criticism over Pride Month display | Gephardt Daily (UT)
- Hanover chooses not to revoke book from school library | WTVR (VA)
- Central Bucks school board approves first reading of controversial book policy | WFMZ
- Reconsideration committee, school board vote to keep controversial book in curriculum | Ottumwa Courier (IA)
- AG Paxton backs local library book removal defense | Axios (TX)
- Canceling drag queen reading at Ketchikan’s library could be illegal, says city attorney | KRBD (AK)
- Pride month book display taken down after complaints at Forest Library | WSET (VA)
- Litchfield library, trustees navigate LGBTQ book-ban effort | Manchester Ink Link (NH)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Your kids’ apps are spying on them | Washington Post
- Data privacy takes priority for FTC Chief as dems break deadlock | Bloomberg Law
- Records show ICE uses LexisNexis to check millions, far more than previously thought | TechCrunch
More privacy news is available at the Voices for Privacy blog.
Academic Freedom & Campus Speech
- McDaniel: Academic freedom once again under attack at UW | Wyoming Tribune Eagle
- DeSantis’ ‘Stop Woke Act’ faces court test as universities become targets. At issue: free speech | Tallahassee Democrat
Legislation
- National politics finding way into South Dakota education legislation | Argus Leader
- Wolf vows to veto legislation ‘censoring’ education on sexual orientation, gender identity | Bradford Sun (PA)
- These Indiana schools made racial equity their mission. Now they face hostile legislation. | Chalkbeat Indiana
Access
- Judge in Maryland strikes down library e-book law | Mankato Free Press
Social Media
- 15 ways social media fuels violent extremism | Homeland Security Today
- Donald Trump’s Truth Social is suspending users who post about the January 6 hearings on the ‘free speech alternative’ social media platform | Daily Mail
- Following the Joe Rogan-caused boycott, Spotify launches Safety Advisory Council | Complete Music Update
- When Twitter suspends users, their views get more extreme | Washington Post
Information Literacy & Disinformation
Copyright
- ‘Wildly inappropriate’ attack on net neutrality or ‘exciting’ new tool to fight piracy? Experts divided on new dynamic website blocking court order | National-Post
- Maryland ebook licensing law is unconstitutional, U.S. court rules | Reuters
- Judge strikes down Maryland law requiring publishers to make ebooks available to libraries | WJLA / Associated Press
International News
- Historical books, documents in danger as Marcos family returns to power | News Lens
- “Like a slow-motion coup”: Brazil is on the brink of a disinformation disaster | Nieman Lab
- Exclusive: U.S. targets Russia with tech to evade censorship of Ukraine news | Reuters
Around the Web
- School Librarians Under Pressure | Publishers’ Weekly
- Illinois librarians brace for book banning efforts to ‘get a lot worse’ as challenges grow | Belleville News Democrat
- The read scare of 2022: Who benefits from new books being censored and why does it matter? | Skidmore News
- ‘It’s embarrassing’: ‘Reading Rainbow’ host LeVar Burton fires back at rise in banned books | USA Today
- With Google dominating search, the internet needs crawl neutrality | Fast Company
- An Idaho school board banned 23 books. So a local bookstore gave out copies for free | NPR
- ‘They are accepted’: Drag Queen Story Hour to be included in Apex Pride Festival | ABC 11
- 10-year-old creates library offering free LGBTQ books | AP
- I deliver books to Santa Cruz jails; don’t tell me libraries don’t matter | Lookout Santa Cruz
- Once more for those in the back: Libraries are not neutral | Publishers Weekly
- White parents rallied to chase a Black educator out of town. Then, they followed her to the next one. | PBS
- Gillette librarians protest budget cuts | Sublette Examiner (WY)
- When libraries are a battlefield: Standing up for kids’ right to read | Publishers Weekly
- Caught in the culture wars, teachers are being forced from their jobs | Washington Post
ALA News
- ALA Store at 2022 ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition
- Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden to present at the 2022 ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition
eLearning
Publishing
- Three-year research study suggests co-teaching significantly facilitates learner-centered instruction
- A comprehensive HR toolkit for public library managers
- ALA Graphics Catalog
Awards & Grants
- ALA Announces 2022 Spectrum Doctoral Fellows – Catalysts for Change
- 2022 John Cotton Dana Awards Announced
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