ALA Council

 
November 29, 2021 - Collated by OIF Staff and News Editor on the Intellectual Freedom Blog

Highlights

• Libraries, and the books in them, must reflect the diversity of thought and values in their communities | Bangor Daily News; "Young people have First Amendment rights - not only the right to speak but the right to access and use the resources of the school or public library, free from any censorship that arises from disapproval of a book's content or views." Deborah Caldwell-Stone
• Utah Educational Library Media Association Statement on Challenges Fall 2021 | Utah Educational Library Media Association
• NYLA Position Statement on the Defense of Intellectual Freedom | New York Library Association
• Kansas City Public Library statement on book banning | Kansas City Public Library

Censorship

• US libraries report spike in organized attempts to ban books in schools | The Guardian
• Librarians, educators warn of 'organized' book banning efforts | Publishers Weekly
• Threats and abuse over 'critical race theory' could drive staff out of public schools | Yahoo! News
  • Conservative group offers $500 for catching a teacher breaking Critical Race Theory law | Newsweek
  • Opinion: The assertion of 'parental choice' in schools is headed in disturbing directions | The Washington Post
  • The movement to remove 'pornographic' books from school libraries, explained | WFTV
  • Schools face parents who want to ban critical race theory -- and don't get how teaching works | NBC News
• School board member files police report to have 'All Boys Aren't Blue' removed from school libraries because it's a Black queer memoir | Yahoo! News
  • Potential book ban in school galvanizes 2 sides in day of highs and lows as Sheriff recoils at criminal complaint | Flagler Live
  • Mark Lane: Book banners pull LGBT memoir from the shelves in Flagler | Daytona Beach News-Journal
  • Flagler Sheriff: Controversial book in school libraries broke no law | Yahoo! News
  • On book bans, 'equity' and the school district's duty to honor student diversity: The students' perspective | Flagler Live
• Riverbend High School students hold protest against removing library books | Free Lance-Star
• Book that sparked a statewide schools review won't return to Fort Mill SC libraries | Island Packet
• Anchorage school district bans 'Gender Queer' book from its libraries | Anchorage Daily News
• Wayne Township parents call on school to pull book dealing with LGBTQ+ topics | Connecticut News 12
  • Wayne parents demand removal of 'Gender Queer,' six other books from school libraries | NorthJersey.com
• Schools across St. Louis face more attempts to remove books from library shelves | St. Louis Public Radio
• New Jersey school censors student's Black Lives Matter poster in African American culture display | National Coalition Against Censorship
• Governor says Utahns should 'pump the brakes' over banning books in schools | Deseret News
  • Librarians weigh in on school book controversy, Canyons says policy is 'problematic' | KJZZ
• ACLU of Utah statement on book banning and the First Amendment | ACLU of Utah
  • Utah ACLU investigating Canyons School District over book removal | FOX 13
  • Author says book pulled from Utah schools was written to help prevent sex abuse | KSL
• Committee formed to address censorship concerns at city schools | Daily News-Record [Harrisonburg, VA]
  • School district in Harrisonburg, Virginia, reviewing gender queer in school libraries | National Coalition Against Censorship
• Fairfax schools will return two books to shelves after complaints over sexual content | The Washington Post
• Iowa senator calls for felony penalty for distribution of 'obscene materials in schools | Des Moines Register
  • Iowa senate president vows to prosecute teachers over books | Iowa Starting Line
  • What you need to know about targeted library books in Iowa | Iowa Starting Line
• LGBTQ, sex ed books bring group, protests to Wyoming library | U.S. News & World Report
• Texas book ban would cost school districts millions of dollars in staff time | Book Riot
  • Texas education board chair discusses fight over library books | Spectrum News 1
  • Texas education board rejects textbooks amid debate over lessons on sexuality, LGBTQ issues | San Antonio Express-News
  • Poll: Texans don't trust lawmakers to decide which books to ban | Spectrum News 1
• Texas parents step in after threats of violence get children's story time event cancelled | LGBTQ Nation
• Educators urge parents not to call police over 'harmful' books in school libraries | KSL News Radio
• Pinellas school district orders removal of 'Gender Queer' book | Tampa Bay Times
• DASD: Book to be made available to younger students with parental permission | Courier Express (DuBois, PA)
• Johnston parents file complaint to remove two books from school curriculum | WHO-TV Des Moines
  • Activist groups plan to march against new Johnston school board members | KCCI
  • Libraries should be for all, not just for some | Pen City Current
• Muscatine parents discuss the topic of book banning at this week's school board meeting | Muscatine Journal
• Central Kitsap School District to re-examine graphic novel removed from library | Kitsap Sun
• School removes student project about fascism after cops complain | Vice
• Library reviewing gender identity books after complaints filed | Yahoo! News
• Proud Boys join effort to ban 'Gender Queer' book from school library -- rattling students in suburban Chicago | Chicago Sun-Times
• ACLU, NCAC urge North Kansas City [Missouri] schools to return censored LGBTQ books to libraries | KSHB
  • ACLU letter to North Kansas City Schools [PDF] | ACLU of Missouri
  • Missouri school returning LGBTQ books to shelves | Times-Union [MO]
  • Missouri school district backtracks ban on LGBTQ+ books | The Hill
  • Missouri students fight back against parent group who want certain books banned | KMOV
• Urbandale school committee to review controversial book | KCCI
  • Parents, students, state Senate president speak out on book debate at Urbandale school board meeting | Yahoo! Finance
• LTHS mom reads steamy passages from school's books | Patch [La Grange, IL]
• Georgia schools targeted in battle over library books, online content | Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Did an 'inappropriate' book get a high school principal put on leave in Arizona? | The State

Privacy & Cybersecurity

• Police aerial surveillance endangers our ability to protest | EFF
• U.S. lawmakers call for privacy legislation after Reuters report on Amazon lobbying | U.S. News & World Report

More privacy news is available at the Voices for Privacy blog.

First Amendment, Free Speech, & Civil Liberties

• What happens if Tennessee's law on teaching of race is violated? New rule spells out the consequences | Tennessean
• Order blocking New York Times coverage of Project Veritas stays in place | The New York Times
• Opinion: Project Veritas says it stands for the First Amendment. Its recent court filings suggest otherwise. | The Washington Post
• Federal courts side with Bargersville in First Amendment lawsuit | Daily Journal
• ACLU claims Sacramento sheriff illegally transferred inmates to immigration authorities | Los Angeles Times
• US added to list of 'backsliding' democracies for first time | The Guardian
• Federal judge enjoins Vermont clerks from withholding First Amendment access | Courthouse News Service
• Rittenhouse and the Right's strategy of deputizing vigilantes | Slate
• SCOTUS refuses to hear Project Veritas case on Massachusetts' ban of secret recording | Law & Crime
• School police have Black Lives Matter posters censored, students protest | Book Riot
• 'Remain calm & pleasant.' How state is asking employees to handle so-called '1st Amendment auditors' | WXYZ
• Students who launched pro-slavery petition at Missouri high school sue after suspensions, expulsion | PBS
• The Best Defense of a Democratic Nation | Intellectual Freedom Blog

Access

• What does the future of content filtering look like for K-12 education? | Ed Tech Magazine

Net Neutrality & Broadband Access

• Meet the woman who will bring back net neutrality | CNET

Academic Freedom & Campus Speech

• Congressional subcommittee announces investigation into UF's academic freedom scandal | Independent Florida Alligator
  • Controversy over UF professors testifying could be prelude of problems to come | Gainesville Sun
  • After controversy, U. of Florida has a new policy on faculty testimony. Here's what it says. | Chronicle of Higher Education

Journalism & Media

• New normal is normalized censorship | Random Lengths News

Information Literacy & Disinformation

• How Facebook and Google fund global misinformation | WIRED
• You can't beat climate change without tackling disinformation | Newsroom
• Opinion: America is sick with information disorder. Time for a cure. | The Washington Post
• How state and local governments can combat disinformation | Governing
• Opinion: Belarus is borrowing from Russia again -- this time, with disinformation | The Washington Post

International News

• The Toronto school board lost the plot and misguidedly rejected these books | Toronto Star
• Exclusive: Hong Kong public libraries purge 29 titles about the Tiananmen Massacre from the shelves | Hong Kong Free Press
• CNN airs live footage of its reporting on tennis star being censored in China | The Hill
• China bans celebrities from showing off wealth and 'extravagant pleasure' on social media, saying pop stars must comply with 'core socialist values' | Business Insider
• The Chinese government might be releasing videos to reassure the world that Peng Shuai is alive and well, but her presence on the country's social media has been scrubbed clean | Insider
• Sudan has been censoring social media for the last 5 days | Reclaim the Net

Around the Web

• Wake up: The censorship has been alive forever. It's at a fever pitch today. | Book Riot
• Editorial: Censoring books at schools and libraries is never a good idea | Chicago Sun-Times
• School libraries and controversial books: Tips from the front lines | Education Week
• School is for learning -- including learning about race and gender | EIN
• Pride and prejudice: Forget critical race theory -- let's talk about critical race facts | Salon
• Critical race theory debates are drowning out learning experiences for students | Ms. Magazine
• What was the first banned book in history? | Salon
• Why is the book 'Gender Queer' being removed from public school libraries, and is it 'obscene?' | Blue Ridge Public Radio
• Critical race theory creeps into local school board races | The Day [CT]
• Nikole Hannah-Jones: Anti-CRT coverage is a 'propaganda campaign' | KAKE
• Here are the books parents want to ban in schools now | Vice
• Ruth Bass: Championing freedom? Hang on to freedom to read | Berkshire Eagle
• Push to challenge, ban books causing commotion for libraries | KXLF
• Young adult Latino literature faces conservative backlash | Axios
• Texas mother organizes transgender storytime after library faced threats over 'Rainbow Storytime' on Transgender Day of Rememberance | The Hill
  • A Republican celebrated after a library canceled its inclusive event for kids, but hate didn't win | Daily Kos
• Montclair Library Director leaving for new post, as fraught talks with township continue | Montclair Local
• My book was censored in China. Now it's blacklisted -- in Texas. | The New York Times
• What people miss in the conversation about banned books | NPR
• Nebraska ballot initiative would eliminate state Board of Education | Los Angeles Blade
• West Virginia textbook battle shows how GOP turned its image from 'blue blood to blue collar' | The Guardian
• Parents should not be able to dictate what other parents' children can read -- Opinion | Miami Herald

The Merritt Fund Promotional Toolkit

ALA News

• Registration now open for ALA's LibLearnX: The Library Learning Experience conference
• Activist, philanthropist and author Colin Kaepernick to close LibLearnX
• Virginia Library Association joins ALA Joint Student Membership Program as the 50th partner
• SRRT to celebrate 20 Years of the Rise Feminist Book Project for ages 0-18

Awards & Grant

eLearning

• United for Libraries' Dec. 14 Learning Live session to educate on building strong library policies
• Saying No: Harassment Intervention at the Library Webinar
• Tools for Locating Primary Sources in Archives and Online

More eLearning opportunites

Publishing

• Building an integrated metadata strategy with XML

More ALA News

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