“Free expression organization PEN America, alongside publisher Penguin Random House, authors, and parents of children affected by the unconstitutional book bans carried out by Florida’s Escambia County School District and School Board, filed suit today in federal court asking for books to be returned to school library shelves where they belong. Ensuring that students have access to… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: Free Speech
School librarians face a new penalty in the banned-book wars: Prison
Washington Post: “Librarians could face years of imprisonment and tens of thousands in fines for providing sexually explicit, obscene or “harmful” books to children under new state laws that permit criminal prosecution of school and library personnel. At least seven states have passed such laws in the last two years, according to a Washington Post… Continue Reading
A Christian Nation? Understanding the Threat of Christian Nationalism to American Democracy and Culture
PPRI: “The rising influence of Christian nationalism in some segments of American politics poses a major threat to the health of our democracy. Increasingly, the major battle lines of the culture war are being drawn between a right animated by a Christian nationalist worldview and Americans who embrace the country’s growing racial and religious diversity.… Continue Reading
RSF’s 2022 World Press Freedom Index – a new era of polarisation
“The 20th World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reveals a two-fold increase in polarisation amplified by information chaos – that is, media polarisation fuelling divisions within countries, as well as polarisation between countries at the international level. The 2022 edition of the World Press Freedom Index, which assesses the state of… Continue Reading
The Fight for the American Public Library
Bloomberg/City Lab: ” Library boards, school boards and legislatures are becoming battlegrounds in a push to censor books. Communities are fighting back. National Library Week in the US comes amid a period of turmoil for libraries, as efforts to censor books intensify. Visual storyteller Ariel Aberg-Riger explores the threats libraries face, their historical context and… Continue Reading
Brooklyn Public Library Offers Free eCards to Teens Nationwide Facing Book Bans in Local Communities
“Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is launching a new campaign today, titled Books UnBanned, to help teens combat the negative impact of increased censorship and book bans in libraries across the country. For a limited time, young adults ages 13 to 21 nationwide, will be able to apply for a free eCard from BPL, unlocking access… Continue Reading
Banned Book Book Club
Banned Book Book Club [via mefi projects “Displays information about a book that has been banned in American schools 2021-2022, alongside a readable preview of most books (on desktop only) and a link to buy it. Reload to see another one.]” See also National Library Week kicks off with the highly anticipated annual list of… Continue Reading
Report Censorship
American Library Association: “ALA, established in 1876, has a longstanding commitment to defend intellectual freedom in libraries. Even before the formal adoption of the Library Bill of Rights in 1939, ALA has provided support, guidance, and resources to librarians faced with censorship. Since 1990, the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) has maintained a database on… Continue Reading
Florida school district bans dozens of books based on proposed bill
Judd at Popular Information: “Schools in Clay County, Florida, are withholding dozens of books from students, citing legislation that has been proposed but not approved by the state legislature or signed into law. In a spreadsheet published by the Clay County school district listing the status of challenged books, 55 titles were categorized as “Pending… Continue Reading
ICANN and Verisign Proposal Would Allow Any Government In The World To Seize Domain Names
FreeSpeech.com: “ICANN, the organization that regulates global domain name policy, and Verisign, the abusive monopolist that operates the .COM and .NET top-level domains, have quietly proposed enormous changes to global domain name policy in their recently published “Proposed Renewal of the Registry Agreement for .NET”, which is now open for public comment. Either by design,… Continue Reading
Nearly 1,500 books bans implemented in the first half of this school year
The Hill: “Almost 1,500 school book bans were put into place around the U.S. in the first half of the current academic year, according to PEN America. An analysis from the group released Thursday found 1,477 book bans implemented in the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, affecting 874 unique books. The six months… Continue Reading
Libraries are under attack and so are library workers
Fast Company: “Libraries are increasingly being targeted by local and state legislators and protestors trying to ban books and block LGBTQ content. How is that affecting the people who work in them? Scratch nearly any kind of story—political, social, economic, cultural, and so on—and you’ll find a labor story. No matter what’s happening, whether it’s… Continue Reading
