Intellectual Freedom News 3/22/2019
Florida bill would make banning books easier; New Jersey lawmakers propose resolution asking schools not to teach ‘Huckleberry Finn’; In Y.A., where is the line between criticism and cancel culture?
NCOSE’s Dirty Dozen Censorship
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has included the American Library Association on their annual “Dirty Dozen” list of sexual exploitation enablers. You might be led to believe that the ALA was promoting open, free, and unfettered access to pornography—it’s not. Instead, NCOSE is targeting something alltogether different–the freedom of library patrons.
Catholic Fiction: Flannery O’Connor and Self-Censorship
“Southern Gothic” short-story and fiction writer Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964) is celebrated to this day for her wry portrayals of strange, often disturbing signs of life below the Mason-Dixon Line. But as a devout Catholic, she also practiced self-censorship in the form of avoiding or otherwise officially requesting permission to read works included on the Catholic Index of Forbidden Books. How did she reconcile the two?
A Mighty Mural Stands Unsullied by Censorship
The artist commissioned to craft the mural Beau Stanton was flabbergasted at the response and scrambled to propose solutions to mollify this dire disputation. Namely, solutions to avoid complete capitulation and lack of thoughtful dialogue and discourse over the impugned mural.
50 Years of Tinker v. Des Moines
Last month, as Mary Beth Tinker and John Tinker celebrated the 50th anniversary of their landmark legal win on behalf of students’ First Amendment rights, they make connections to today’s student activists and the issues students and citizens of all ages are moved to protest.
Freedom of Information Day–Thank a Reporter!
I certainly see the importance of sunshine laws like FOIA, but I also like that Bohannon’s original idea focused on celebrating the First Amendment, which has perhaps lost some of the focus.
Intellectual Freedom News 3/15/19
CCBC releases annual statistics for multicultural children’s books; Wando principal recognized for standing her ground on ‘The Hate U Give’ assignment; Lawsuit alleging Colorado libraries pushed porn is dismissed
The Public Domain Grows in 2019
For the first time this century, a wide array of artworks, books, music and films fell into the public domain. Works in the public domain, which now includes those created in 1923, are no longer under copyright protection, so anyone who enjoys creating something can make use of works in the public domain for inspiration. While the late 20th century saw a copyright term that only got longer, the 21st century sees the public domain finally grow.
Teaching Students to Evaluate Online Information
If you think that students are proficient in evaluating online information just because they are always on the Internet and social media, you’d be dead wrong.
Why I am Keeping Seuss Books
By: guest contributor Carole Soden; “I fully understand why some libraries feel more comfortable not using Dr. Seuss books but I feel there is also another approach.”