Intellectual Freedom News 8/26/2022
Highlights
- ALA responds as legislation threatens librarians for offering information on abortion services | Publishers Weekly
- Penn State Berks reference librarian to chair American Library Association committee | BCTV
Censorship
- Smut allegations lead to contentious debate at overflowing library board meeting in Idaho | Union-Bulletin (ID)
- ‘It’s not about the books’: Boundary County library director resigns over intimidation and ‘political atmosphere of extremism’ | Spokesman-Review (ID)
- Boundary County Library’s future in question | Bonners Ferry Herald (ID)
- Conservative activists want to ban 400 books from a library — but they aren’t even on shelves | NBC News (ID)
- Livingston Parish Council passes resolution to ask libraries to restrict access to some books | The Advocate
- Anne Frank adaptation, 40 more books pulled form Texas school district | Washington Post (TX)
- North Texas ISD responds to criticism after pulling and reviewing books community says are inappropriate | CBS DFW (TX)
- Keller school board to vote on guidelines on library books, instructional materials | Fort Worth Star-Telegram
- Order to remove dozens of challenged books in Texas, including The Bible, is an appalling violation of students’ rights | PEN America
- Texas Superintendent says Anne Frank adaptation will be back on shelves ‘very soon’ | Philadelphia Jewish Exponent
- Seven of the eight banned library books approved for return to Forsyth school libraries | Forsyth County News (GA)
- Book disputes land suburban Atlanta school district in court | Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA)
- Louisiana teacher sues conservative group after she was called a ‘pedo’ and a ‘groomer’ for opposing censorship in her local library | Insider
- Mead School District to consider banning critical race theory, gender identity books | Spokane Public Radio (WA)
- Listen online: “How efforts to ban books impact public libraries” discussed on WNYC’s “The Takeaway” | Library Journal
- 115 books in Collier Schools on LGBTQ+, race, and sex get advisory | Naples Daily News (FL)
- Policies that notify Virginia parents of ‘sexually explicit content’ in school materials are on the way | Virginian-Pilot
- Florida teacher quits after posters of Black leaders were seized by school district employee | BET
- School librarians in Missouri pull books as new law allows charges for ‘explicit’ material | St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Battle over LGBTQ books at rural Iowa town’s public library | KETV (IA)
- Alamance-Burlington Schools latest district to hear complaints about LGBTQ-themed books | Times-News (NC)
- Parents speak out against ‘explicit’ school library books on sex, race, ‘giant penises’ | KOMO News (OK)
- Most efforts to ban books in Texas schools came from 1 politician and GOP pressure, not parents | Houston Chronicle
- Virginia Republicans are testing a new way to ban books and restrict their sales. In the long run, it might just work. | Slate
- Humble ISD parents form group to remove ‘dirty books’ from school libraries | KTRK (TX)
- CY-Fair ISD students must now get parents’ permission to borrow books at school library | Houston Chronicle (TX)
- Dixon Library Board bolsters policy against censorship following call to remove LGBTQ comic books | Sauk Valley (IL)
- Book bans are threatening American democracy. Here’s how to fight back. | Washington Post
- Grapevine-Colleyville passes limits on CRT, books, and bathrooms | Dallas Morning News (TX)
- A North Texas school district now lets teachers reject children’s pronouns — even if parents approve of them | Texas Tribune
- Texas school district approves policy banning classroom discussions of race and gender, restricts books and pronoun use | Hill
- ‘Don’t say trans’: Texas school board’s new policies spark an outcry | Washington Post
- Book battle burning over sexually explicit items in Abilene’s public library system | Abilene Reporter News (TX)
- Tumult over sexually-explicit library materials spills over to council | Abilene Reporter News (TX)
- ‘I am not upset. I’m enraged’: Administration asked school librarian to take down banned books display after one parent complained | Daily Dot (TX)
- Controversial book is staying in Iowa high school library | K92.3 (IA)
- Pennridge school board could limit student expression, employee ‘advocacy,’ books | Bucks County Courier-Times (PA)
- Virginia Beach schools to remove some library books, keep others after complaints | Virginian-Pilot
- Parents can now challenge Virginia Beach school library books, but one board member says that’s not enough | Virginian-Pilot
- LGBTQ+ back-to-school event canceled due to safety concerns | KNWA (AR)
- State board rejects appeal that sought to pull ‘Gender Queer’ from school library | Iowa Capitol Dispatch
- Michigan library faces closure after voters reject funding to protest LGBTQ literature | Just the News
- National attention as Jamestown Township library millage fails over LGBTQ books | Holland Sentinel (MI)
- Parents protesting more books at Prince William school libraries | Inside Nova (VA)
- Book chronicling transgender teens to remain on Chesterfield school shelves | Virginia Public Media
- Madison County Schools removes 10 books from general library circulation. Here’s why | Clarion-Ledger (MS)
- As efforts to ban books escalate, a new petition is filed against Sarasota’s school board | WUSF Public Radio
- Researchers did a deep dive into efforts to restrict critical race theory. Here’s what they found. | Chronicle of Higher Education
- ACLU demands excluded documents surrounding Nampa School District book ban | Idaho News 6
- Policy would give NP school superintendent last word on pulling library items | North Platte Telegraph (NE)
- Amid protest at Spartanburg library, SC senator says ‘sexual identity’ books should be removed | Herald-Journal (SC)
- Central Bucks passes another policy targeting inappropriate content | TAP into Doylestown
- Board votes to remove books from media centers | Davison Index (MI)
- Stillwater parents speak out against explicit library books in schools | KOKH (OK)
- LGBTQ+ books at the center of library controversies in Michigan & Iowa | Advocate
- Banned books are reinstated to Cadott School Library | Central Wisconsin Broadcasting
- Dixfield-based school board bans gender book from Dirigo library | Portland Press Herald (ME)
- Ashland Public Library debate surrounding books continues at larger venue | Ashland Source (OH)
- Book brouhaha brings another big crowd to Ashland library meeting | Times Gazette (OH)
- Florida atheist petitions to ban The Bible in Miami-Dade and Broward Schools | Miami New Times (FL)
- Neo-Nazi gathering causes drag queen to cancel story hour in the Seaport | Boston.com (MA)
- Pearland ISD trustee raises concerns about district’s policy for inappropriate books | Community Impact (TX)
- State senator threatens to defund libraries over certain books | WMBF (SC)
- School district slaps warning labels on books with LGBTQ characters | LGBTQ Nation (FL)
- As the school year begins, calls for book bans begin to accelerate in Ohio | News5 (OH)
- Polk County schools change policy for library book restrictions | Ledger (FL)
- Alpine School District restricts 52 library books | KSL News (UT)
- With book bans surging nationwide, Eagle County is not untouched | VailDaily.com (CO)
- Virtual LGBTQ+ lecture rescheduled at UL after cyber attack of racial, homophobic slurs | Acadiana Advocate (LA)
- Conroe, Texas, school district to remove ‘obscene’ books from libraries | National Coalition Against Censorship
- Library purchases paused by Florida Superintendent–to keep media specialists ‘safe’ | School Library Journal
- Horry County board bans CRT despite it not being taught in classrooms | Newsweek
- An Oklahoma school district put a teacher on leave after she shared a link to Brooklyn library’s banned book site | Insider
- Omaha radio interview sets off firestorm for Kearney Public Schools | Kearney Hub (NE)
- Kearney superintendent pushes back against Innis comments on controversial books | Lincoln Journal Star
- A librarian is being threatened for creating LGBTQ book displays | VICE (LA)
- Buxton-based school board considers removing books about sexuality and gender identity from school libraries | Portland Press Herald (ME)
- The Brooklyn Public Library gives every teenager in the U.S. free access to books getting censored by American schools | Open Culture
- Katy ISD police ‘investigated’ a library book after complaint alleged it was ‘harmful to minors’ | Houston Chronicle
- Some Katy ISD parents think more should be done to restrict what books are available to students | Houston Chronicle
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Kansas schools to parents: You can keep tabs on what your kids check out from our libraries | NPR
- Facebook Gave Nebraska Cops A Teen’s DMs So They Could Prosecute Her For Having An Abortion | Forbes
- The vulnerability of student reproductive health data | Inside Higher Ed
- FTC announces advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on commercial surveillance and data security | JD Supra
- Hiding OUT: A case for queer experiences informing data privacy laws | Public Knowledge
- San Diego joins other cities in restricting cops’ use of surveillance technology | Engadget
- Phones know who went to an abortion clinic. Whom will they tell? | Wall Street Journal
- The Unintended Consequences of Self-Harm Monitoring Software | Regulatory Review
- Lawmakers demand FBI, DHS, and others reveal purchases of personal data that circumvent warrants | Gizmodo
- Oracle’s ‘surveillance machine’ targeted in US privacy class action | TechCrunch
First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties
- DeSantis loses another First Amendment fight, this one over ‘Stop Woke Act’ | Florida Phoenix
- Court: Arkansas can’t ban treatment of transgender kids | Associatied Press
- America’s censored classrooms | Pen America
- Mothers behind book-banning campaign claim their First Amendment rights are being violated | Flagler Live (FL)
- Defamation suit about election falsehoods puts Fox on its heels | New York Times
- Alabama political group gathering evidence of alleged violations of school gender identity, CRT rules | Alabama.com
- Tulsa Public Schools punishment for alleged CRT violation being used to challenge law | KTUL (OK)
- Schools’ policy for checking out controversial library books switches to opt-out only | Lakeland Now (FL)
- ‘Is this how we want to be known?’ Wellington residents discuss possible book ban | Coloradoan
- Newly elected DA suggested prosecuting librarians for “inappropriate” books | LGBTQ Nation (TN)
- Faced with a rise of extremism within its ranks, the US military has clamped down on racist speech, including retweets and likes | Conversation
- Florida’s 15-week abortion ban heads to state supreme court | ACLU
- Idaho supreme court rules that strict abortion ban can take effect | New York Times
- ‘I won’t be silenced’: North Texans testify in Congress about censorship in education | Dallas Observer
- Civil rights groups call for probe into fake ICE university that detained students, seized millions of dollars | Hill
- In Texas, resentment builds as border crackdown ensnares local drivers | NBC News
- Victory! Federal court upholds First Amendment protections for student’s off-campus social media post | EFF
- The stabbing of Salman Rushdie renews free speech debates | New York Times
- After Roe, Republicans sharpen attacks on gay and transgender rights | New York Times
- Parents sue Linn-Mar school district over policy supporting trans, non-binary students | Iowa Starting Line
- From critical race theory bans to anti-LGBTQ rules: Will conservatives transform California schools? | San Francisco Chronicle
- ACLU sues over Arizona law limiting filming of police | AP
- Judge throws out parents’ lawsuit over school policy to not out trans kids to their parents | LGBTQ Nation
Legislation
- Republicans Running for Statehouse Seats Sharpen Attacks on Public Education | Route 50
- One year later, confusion remains over application and enforcement of ‘critical race theory’ ban | Texan
- Internet decries book ‘censorship’ after teacher shares impact of state law | Newsweek (TN)
- Sen. Rand Paul wants to repeal the Espionage Act amid the Mar-a-Lago investigation | NPR
- Michigan Republicans aim to restrict school discussion of systemic racism | Bridge Michigan
- New Missouri law makes it a crime for educators to share ‘explicit’ books with students | CBS News
Academic Freedom
- Fighting the good fight | Inside Higher Ed
- Conservative students sue Clovis college administrators. ‘Barriers against our ideas’ | Fresno Bee
- University professors are afraid. Florida’s crackdown on ‘woke’ academia is already working — Editorial | Miami Herald
Journalism
- Nebraska school officials close newspaper after LGBTQ issue | WRAL News / Associated Press
Net Neutrality & Broadband Access
- Public Knowledge applauds D.C. circuit court ruling affirming FCC’s authority over spectrum | Public Knowledge
Access
Social Media
- Facebook and Instagram remove Robert Kennedy Jr.’s nonprofit for misinformation | New York Times
- Rights groups tell Zuckerberg to stop ‘dangerous censorship’ of abortion content | Common Dreams
- Instagram reveals algorithm change after Palestine censorship claims | National
- How frustration over TikTok has mounted in Washington | New York Times
- Social media is polluting society. Moderation alone won’t fix the problem | MIT Technology Review
- Censored: The exhibitions that Instagram doesn’t want you to see | Art Newspaper
- States are bracing for social media-enabled election violence | Bloomberg
- Facebook, Twitter release 2022 midterms policies to fight the big lie | Washington Post
Information Literacy & Disinformation
- The Alex Jones verdict and the fight against disinformation | New York Times
- Ambitious project takes new approach to world’s disinformation problem | Cision
- Schools find conspiracy theories interfere with making classrooms inclusive | NPR
- ‘A cascade of online hate’: anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, disinformation flourishes on social media | Hill
- On TikTok, election misinformation thrives ahead of midterms | New York Times
- Bringing lessons from cybersecurity to the fight against disinformation | MIT
- Experts worry monkeypox disinformation will harm LGBTQ+ community | Hill
- Google examines how different generations handle misinformation | MIT Technology Review
- Misinformation ‘Harms nearly every element of election administration,’ committee report finds | Nextgov
- How the idea of a ‘transgender contagion’ went viral–and caused untold harm | MIT Technology Review
- Florida didn’t ban ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ as fake list suggests | AP
International News
Around the Web
- ‘The perfect target’? Movement to ban books from schools brings vitriol toward librarians | USA Today
- When they came for librarians: My profession is under attack — what happens now? | Salon
- Opinion: As a kid, a book I wasn’t looking for changed my life | CNN
- Literary figures hold rally for Salman Rushdie in New York | TRT World
- It’s a book, not a belief system | Dallas Morning News
- Restrictive school board policies threaten the right to read | Texas Library Association
- Students lose access to books amid ‘state-sponsored purging of ideas’ | Washington Post
- Peabody teens join library’s banned book club | CBS News
- Texas mom’s campaign to ban LGBTQ library books divided her town – and her family | USA Today
- Texas librarians, bearing the brunt of book ban battles, see their numbers dwindle | Houston Chronicle
- Media guide: Reporting on book bannings and school censorship | GLAAD
- Book bans, lawsuits resurgent 40 years after ‘Island Trees’ | Bloomberg Law
- Banning books is now way to protect young minds | Washington Post
- How Slaughterhouse-Five became a repeated target of book burners | Reason
- A template for talking with school and library boards about book bans | Book Riot
- Librarian and Filmmaker Expand West Point Library’s LGBTQ+ Collection | Mississippi Free Press
- Stress, harassment, censorship: What educators face as politics roil schools | Education Week
- Books riddled with bullet holes found in library book return bin | Daily Inter Lake (MT)
- How efforts to ban books impact public libraries | Takeaway NYC
- The right is misusing the word “grooming” and it can have serious consequences | Teen Vogue
- NJ high school librarian who opposed removal of LGBTQ books receives national honor | MyCentralJersey.com
- Florida students return to schools reshaped by Gov. DeSantis’ anti-‘woke’ education agenda | WSVN News
- Republican war on books: They don’t just want to control your body — next up, your mind | Salon
- 14 candidates pursue open seat on ImagineIF library board | Daily Inter Lake (MT)
- Black-owned Austin bookstore fights against banned books with new nonprofit | Fox 7 Austin
- ‘It’s challenging’: How Idaho libraries are coping with budget cuts after smut claims | Spokesman-Review
- Lafayette council looking into path to remove library board members | Advertiser (LA)
- What is ‘soft’ censorship? When school districts don’t ban books, they still limit student access | 19th News
- 15 banned & challenged books you should read with your kids | Woman’s Tale
- Checklist aims to help teachers create reading oases in book deserts | K-12 Dive
ALA News
- Jim Rettig, 2008-2009 ALA President, Has Died
- PLA awards $1.1 million to 160 public libraries to conduct digital literacy workshops | ALA News
- ALA Editions Special Report explores Black and African American students’ experiences in libraries
- PLA releases first Staff and Diversity Survey report
- ALA/ARL approve Cultural Proficiencies for Racial Equity: A Framework
- American Library Association Congratulates Two Past Presidents on Appointment to National Museum and Library Services Board
- ALA Announces the New Jason Reynolds/Simon & Schuster Travel Grant
- ALA Editions Special Report explores cultural humility as a component of DEI efforts
- Roselle Public Library District (IL) awarded 2022 Maureen Hayes Award
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