Intellectual Freedom News 6/30/2026
Highlights
- American Library Association Council Introduces Resolution to Establish Librarians’ and Library Workers’ Bill of Rights | ALA
- Announcing the 2026 Excellence in Children’s and Young Adult Science Fiction Notable Lists | ALA
- ALA Statement on the Tragedy at the Chico Branch of the Butte County Library | ALA
- American Library Association launches national advocacy campaign to fight FCC attack on library funding | ALA
- New PLA data reveals public libraries boosted support for food security, health and wellness in 2025 | ALA
Censorship
- Libraries Not Doing Pride Displays Say They ‘Shouldn’t Be Judged’ | 404
- Holding pattern: Fontana library system pumps the brakes on major policy changes | Smoky Mountain News (NC)
- Community continues to dispute TRL Board of Trustees president’s ‘desired outcomes’ | Nisqually Valley News (WA)
- League discussion on school board elections, book challenges | Northern Valley Press South (NJ)
- New head of Garfield County Libraries wants to bring community together and protect the ‘freedom to read’ | Aspen Journalism (CO)
- Conservative Activists Urge Lubbock ISD To Remove Explicit Books | Texas Scorecard (TX)
- Elizabethtown school board policy will ban books that include ‘sex acts or implied sex acts’ | Lancaster Online (PA)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- In New Report, ACLU Warns Against Giving Private Companies Centralized Access to Police Data | ACLU
- ATF cancels phone tracking contract after lawmakers raise concerns | ABC News
- How to Fight Deployment of Flock and Other Mass Surveillance License Plate Readers in Your Community | ACLU
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- People fired over Charlie Kirk posts get big payouts for First Amendment retaliation | NPR
- Federal Citizenship Data Tool Cannot Be Used to Screen Voters, Judge Rules | New York Times
- The Supreme Court is about to decide if children still have free speech rights | Vox
- Gay Marriage Is Dividing Republicans, Again | New York Times
- US Education Dept. probes 3 Md. school districts and state over transgender student policies | WTOP (MD)
- Texas State Board of Education votes to require millions of students to study Bible stories | CNN (TX)
- White House commission brushes off First Amendment, eyes ‘bridge’ between church and state | MS NOW
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- ‘What happens in Texas does not stay in Texas’: Professors’ group to investigate UNT, other colleges | KERA (TX)
- UPDATED: Vanderbilt- and WashU-commissioned report on politicization of humanities fields sparks controversy among faculty, cited professors | Vanderbilt Hustler
- Graduation controversies reported across US. Why does this happen? | USA Today
- Claims of retaliation, suppression and secrecy fuel turmoil at St. Paul Academy | Minnesota Star Tribune (MN)
- UI Center for Intellectual Freedom sparks backlash in Iowa City | Daily Iowan (IA)
- UI Center for Intellectual Freedom gets a captive audience | Gazette (IA)
- Pepperdine University president says there is no such thing as a morally neutral education | KATV
- Montgomery Co. schools students push back on superintendent’s response to censorship concerns | WTOP News (MD)
Legislation
- A New Bill Takes Aim at Government Pressure to Silence Lawful Online Speech | EFF
- Mass. House passes bill safeguarding libraries from book bans | New Bedford Light (MA)
- Committee Targets Campus Antisemitism, Israel Boycotts, Religion | Legis1
State & Local Governance
- Florida college seized by DeSantis in ‘anti-woke’ push to triple in size | Guardian (FL)
- SBOE to Vote on New Reading List and Social Studies Standards | Texas Scorecard (TX)
- ‘Law says x, and we’re following y’: Some Bossier police jurors question library board setup | Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate (LA)
- Illinois Secretary of State announces more than $27M in grants to libraries across state | WGN (IL)
- Escambia cancels library meeting as fallout over director hire grows | Pensacola News Journal (FL)
Media & Digital Literacy
- Justice Department withdraws subpoenas that sought reporters’ grand jury testimony | Free Speech Center
- Trump Is Turning Journalists Into Criminals | New York Times
International
- Letters: a reader on library Pride censorship, from Essex to Sheffield | Scene Mag (United Kingdom)
- Removal of Pride displays ‘blatant censorship’ | Magzter (United Kingdom)
- UK book banning on the rise | Boar
- The Library of Controversy: Russophobic Books in Moscow Archive | Devdiscourse (Russia)
- ANA Rejects ₦2,000-Per-Page Book Assessment Fee, Warns Of Threat To Intellectual Freedom | Independent (Nigeria)
- Dua Lipa Has A Page Turner Opening Physical Library | Business Today (Portugal)
- Dua Lipa opens library for banned and censored books in Portugal | Euro News (Portugal)
- Scientists fight back against far-right plans to restrict academic freedom in Germany | Nature (Germany)
- ‘The book burning of 1933 is happening again, in a more subtle form’ | Ukrant (Netherlands)
Around the Web
- Be Wary of South Carolina’s School Book Ban | Fair Observer
- The Problem with Banning Books in Schools | Progressive Magazine
- Library Cards–The New Landscape of Public Library Censorship: Book Censorship News, June 19, 2026 | Book Riot
- UNBANNED Campaign Launches to Highlight the Impact of Book Banning Policies on Access to Literature | EINPresswire
- In an Age of Book Bans: Expanding Access to Critical Reviews of Children’s Literature | Morningstar
- Enjoying the Freedom to Read and Learn | My County Link]
- Resistance to book restrictions is built on community | Taproot Edmonton
- Freedom School for Educators: Black History Classes in the Age of Censorship | Morningstar
- PFLAG Greeneville honors librarian with ‘Freedom To Read’ award | Greenville Sun
- In an Age of Book Bans: Expanding Access to Critical Reviews of Children’s Literature | Morningstar
ALA News
- 2026 John Cotton Dana Awards Announced
- LibTech Insights and Clarivate Announce “AI Essentials for Academic Libraries: Beyond the Basics”
- Announcing the Awardees of the 2026 Core Presidential Citations
- PLA launches redesigned DigitalLearn.org to expand free digital literacy access
- Rachel Hendrick named Senior Director, ALA Publishing & Media
- Updated fundamentals of library supervision
- American Library Association partners with Heritage Auctions for sale of historic READ® posters
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