Censorship

Challenges to library items in Newberg take a nefarious route

Those were official challenges. In Newberg those objecting to materials at the public library have taken a more nefarious approach. “We were notified by a patron on March 30 that people were removing or hiding our LGBTQIA+ booklists and bragging about it online,” library officials said in a March 30 report to the OIFC. “We started keeping track on a Microsoft Teams channel on April 1. Since then we have found fully-stocked booklists completely missing or moved behind other booklists on (May 3, May 22, June 10 and June 24).”

Read more at: https://newberggraphic.com/2025/10/20/challenges-to-library-items-in-newberg-take-a-nefarious-route/

November 12, 2025 by Books Censorship

Ten Stories That Shaped 2024

According to ChatGTP, below are the main themes of this year’s library headlines (using Library Link of the Day as the source):

  1. Library Governance and Legislation:
    Highlighting state legislation targeting librarians, legal battles in Alabama and Idaho, and the impact of controversial policies leading to resignations and job losses among library staff.
  2. Censorship and Book Bans:
    Widespread attempts to ban books, especially those with LGBTQ+ themes or diverse characters, coupled with legal challenges and legislative measures against censorship.
  3. Technological Advances and Digital Challenges:
    The role of AI in libraries, the migration from physical to digital collections, and the associated risks like data breaches and digital repository reliability.
  4. AI and Its Ethical Implications:
    Ethical and legal challenges surrounding generative AI, including copyright issues, quality concerns of AI-generated content, and its impact on traditional publishing.
  5. Libraries and Societal Conflicts:
    Ongoing conflicts between public libraries and various societal or government entities, involving censorship debates and clashes over controversial content.
  6. Academic Integrity and Plagiarism:
    Issues of plagiarism and academic integrity, emphasized by the rise of AI-generated content and legal disputes over improper citation practices.
  7. The Role of Libraries in Modern Society:
    Libraries’ evolving roles in education, digital equity, community health, and their function as safe havens and spaces for mental health advocacy.
  8. Cultural Impacts:
    The cultural significance of libraries and the publishing industry, including notable lawsuits, the role of book fairs, and the societal importance of accessible literature.
  9. Crisis and Advocacy:
    Libraries and librarians facing job losses, threats, underfunding, and advocacy efforts highlighting their resilience and resistance against these pressures.
  10. Educational and Community Services:
    Libraries adapting to meet educational needs, offering health and wellness classes, acting as community centers, and serving broader societal purposes in the face of various challenges.

What was your favorite story of 2024?

December 15, 2024 by AI Censorship Libraries Stories Of The Year

Trump’s promises to conservatives raise fears of more book bans in US

“It’s not just about taking a book off a shelf,” said Tasslyn Magnusson, an author and teacher from Wisconsin who tracks book censorship across the U.S. “It’s about power and who controls public education. It’s about what kind of America we were and are. We’re trying to define what family is and what America means. That comes down to the stories we tell.”

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/nov/26/trumps-promises-to-conservatives-raise-fears-of-mo/

November 27, 2024 by Censorship

“Extremists”: Alabama GOP chair, anti-censorship group blast each other over libraries

%u2018Extremists%u2019: Alabama GOP chair, anti-censorship group blast each other over libraries

“While it is true libraries cannot hold every book in the world, it has been affirmed through case law that libraries cannot censor material based on viewpoint discrimination,” Read Freely Alabama’s statement says. “That includes refusing to purchase books simply because the content is controversial to some.”

November 20, 2024 by Censorship Public Libraries

Most US book bans target children’s literature featuring diverse characters and authors of color

Book bans in U.S. schools and libraries during the 2021-22 school year disproportionately targeted children’s books written by people of color – especially women of color – according to a peer-reviewed study published. They also tended to feature characters of color.

In our review, we found that 59% of banned books were children’s books featuring diverse characters or nonfiction books about historical figures and social movements. The top banned books were “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” by Maia Kobabe, which was banned by 41 school districts; “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” by George M. Johnson, with 29 bans; and “Out of Darkness,” by Ashley Hope Pérez, with 24 bans.

November 14, 2024 by Censorship

Arkansas library board member continues his assault on “sexually explicit”

Arkansas library board member continues his assault on %u2018sexually explicit%u2019 content

“I personally do not approve of these kinds of materials,” said June Matheny from Little Rock. “If a parent wants their children to see this, they want to indoctrinate them on what most of us do not want, let them go and check it out themselves. I’m not for censorship … but I am opposed to anything being where my children can see them.”

November 12, 2024 by Censorship

Texas condemned for placing book on colonization in library’s fiction section

Outcry in Montgomery county as Linda Coombs’ book on European colonization of Native American land reclassified

Anti-censorship advocates have joined the book publisher Penguin Random House in condemning a Texas county that reclassified an account of European settlers’ colonization of Indigenous Americans as fiction.

The furor in Montgomery county – near Houston – follows the decision by a citizens review panel, at the behest of rightwing activists, to place Colonization and the Wampanoag Story by Linda Coombs in the fiction section of children’s libraries

October 21, 2024 by Books Censorship

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