Intellectual Freedom News 6/27/2025
Highlights
- ALA Store at 2025 ALA Annual Conference & Exhibition
- This sacred place holds our national memory. Don’t politicize it. | Washington Post
- Local Library Stories Show Impact of Unprecedented Federal Funding Cuts | ALA
- New ALA report spotlights prison libraries’ strategic role in reentry | ALA
Censorship
- Librarian’s Courage in Face of Book Challenges Helps Shape New Jersey Law | TAPInto (NJ)
- Pierce County, GA library manager fired following book display including book about trans boy | FirstCoast News (GA)
- Closed-door library board meeting draws public concern over book guidelines | WFXG (GA)
- Groups urge Florida lawmakers to probe school book removals | Tallahassee Democrat (FL)
- Last-ditch legal effort tries to halt NC regional library system breakup over LGBTQ+ content | Carolina Public Press (NC)
- Parents speak out against Orange, other districts removing more books from this list | Central Florida Public Media (FL)
- Christian Nationalists wanted to censor books in this city’s library. The voters had other ideas. | Americans United (CA)
- New Hanover County School Board committee votes to lift ban on controversial book, board to make final decision | WECT (NC)
- NHCS committee recommends lifting ban on ‘Stamped,’ raises issue of censorship | Port City Daily (NC)
- New Hanover County school board overrules committee decision, bans ‘Stamped’ from curriculum | Port City Daily (NC)
- Fairhope Public Library relocates five books as state funding pause continues | Gulf Coast Media (AL)
- Rockingham County school board removes more books from libraries | Daily News-Record (VA)
- Public Library of Youngstown & Mahoning County raises concerns regarding potential censorship provisions | WFMJ (OH)
- Among incidents of ‘political violence,’ school board renews call for decorum | Port City Daily (NC)
- Jackson County votes to exit Fontana library system amid LGBTQ+ book display controversy | WLOS (NC)
Privacy & Cybersecurity
- Does FERPA protect parents’ identities when they challenge books? NC school districts offer mixed interpretations | WHQR (NC)
- Trump administration leans on social media in immigration fight | Hill
- Surveillance Of People Is More “Pervasive And Normalised” Than Previously Thought, Endangering Our Privacy | IFL Science
First Amendment & Civil Rights
- Court blocks Louisiana law requiring schools to post Ten Commandments in classrooms | NPR (LA)
- Texas law will require Ten Commandments to be posted in every public school classroom | ABC News (TX)
Academic Freedom & Student Speech
- Texas Governor Signs Bill to Limit Expressive Activity on Campuses | Inside Higher Ed (TX)
- ‘A Banner Year for Censorship’: More States Are Restricting Classroom Discussions on Race and Gender | Chronicle of Higher Education
- Here Is All the Science at Risk in Trump’s Clash With Harvard | New York Times (MA)
- UN expert warns of threat to academic freedom in US | Jurist News
- The Lost Soul of Higher Education | Inside Higher Ed
- Amid Silence and Censorship, Alabama Students and Professors Reflect on a Year Under SB129 | ACLU (AL)
- Punishing Universities for Their Viewpoints Violates the First Amendment | Cato Institute
Legislation
- New Hampshire lawmakers to vote on whether to give parents access to their child’s library history | News from the States (NH)
- Parents rally, LGBTQ+ groups push back on online child safety bill | Washington Post
- Bills addressing guns, drugs, book bans pass Rhode Island General Assembly | WJAR (RI)
- Fact Sheet: Book Ban Bills: SB13 and SB412 | ACLU (TX)
- Governor Abbott signs bill setting new controls for school library books | CBS Austin (TX)
State & Local Governance
- It just got tougher to ban books in Maryland school libraries | Baltimore Banner (MD)
- Top Florida Education Officials Threaten Criminal Charges To Get Educators To Fall In Line | HuffPost (FL)
Social Media & AI
- Elon Musk wants Grok AI to replace historical facts | Dig.Watch
- Is AI watching you? The hidden links between research and surveillance | Nature
Journalism & Media
- Report: Disinformation Is Biggest Threat To Journalism. | Inside Radio
Disinformation & Media Literacy
- Israel-Iran conflict unleashes wave of AI disinformation | BBC
- Drivers of vaccine mis/disinformation in the media: From personal beliefs to cultural dimensions | Frontiers
- The Disinformation Machine After a Murder | Intercept
- Donald Trump and Sean Hannity Set Off a Wave of Disinformation After Iran Bombing | WIRED
International
- Survey shows most Albertans don’t want province setting standards for school library books, province going ahead | CTV News (Canada)
Around the Web
- AmeriCorps’ Work with Students in Limbo Despite Halt to Federal Funding Cuts | 74
- How Trump Treats Black History Differently Than Other Parts of America’s Past | New York Times
- Unbound Pages: Authors Against Book Bans fights for the freedom to read | WGBH
- Book censors and the Trojan horse of decency | Fairbaks Daily News-Miner
- Nixa student group coming to downtown Springfield bookstore for ‘Day of Action’ | KSMU
- Opinion: Reading censored books is essential form of intellectual resistance | Daily Bruin
- Teach Them to Disagree: Why Civility Belongs in Every Classroom | 74
- Opinion: Florida earns unfortunate distinction as censorship leader in schools | Florida Today
- Freedom of expression is once again under attack in the US | Forward Kentucky
- Terri & Sandy’s Unbannable Book Spotlights Queer Creative Voices | LBBOnline
- For Students With Disabilities, Suspension Not Just a Matter of Race and Gender — But Geography | 74
ALA News
- Jacquelyn Kim Selected as the 2025 Tom and Roberta Drewes Scholarship Recipient
- Elizabeth Harmer Selected as the 2025 Christopher Hoy/ERT Scholarship Recipient
- Reimagining the public library
- Core Webinar: The Library of the Future; Health, Wellbeing, & Sustainability
- New from ACRL – Supporting Neurodiverse Students in Academic Libraries
- Core Webinar – Best of Core Forum: Improving Preservation and Metadata Practices for Better Digital Projects; Streamlining a Workflow Preparing Collections for Digitization
- LibTech Insights and Clarivate announce AI Literacy Micro-course for Academic Librarians
- Core Webinar: Marketing Your Library
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