[Libs-Or] Multnomah County Library's Intellectual Freedom Newsletter – January 2024

[Jennifer Keyser]

Dear Oregon Library Community,

Please find below the January edition of Multnomah County Library's
Intellectual Freedom Newsletter. A PDF version of the newsletter is
attached.

Since it is the start of a new year, there are several links that look back
at 2023. In addition, you will find in the newsletter articles on
censorship, champions of intellectual freedom,and activity around state
legislation addressing book bans as well as a few articles on privacy,
disinformation and artificial intelligence.

Thanks for reading and all your work around intellectual freedom.

Rights, Responsibilities & Reactions
Intellectual Freedom Newsletter – January 2024

------------------------------

Local news: The Oregon State Library released a statement on the Salem
Public Library cuts
<https://www.oregon.gov/library/operations/Documents/Press%20Release%20-%20Statement%20on%20Salem%20Public%20Library%20cuts,%20library%20worker%20fatigue.pdf>,
underscoring how libraries are needed in communities and that book
challenges wear on library staff. Although focused on grants for library
programming and building community in rural Oregon, this article touches on
access and book bans: Oregon’s rural libraries: Crossroads of community
<https://www.orartswatch.org/oregons-rural-libraries-crossroads-of-community/>
(Oregon  Artswatch, 20 min). WA Senate votes to make it harder to shut down
a library
<https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/as-book-battles-rage-wa-senate-votes-to-make-it-harder-to-shut-down-a-library/>
(Seattle Times, 7 min).


The ALA provides a 2023 Year in Review
<https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2024/01/02/2023-year-in-review/>,
highlighting news that touches on various aspects of intellectual
freedom (American
Libraries Magazine, 9 min), while School Library journal offers a look
at upcoming
legislation impacting libraries
<https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/story/Look-Ahead-2024-Laws-Book-Bans-Florida-Iowa-and-Illinois-Censorship-News>
plus other censorship news (4 min).

The New York Times reports on how a drag queen event that didn’t happen led
to the library closing
<https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/nyregion/lake-luzerne-library-drag-story-hour.html>
(New York Times, 15 min). Elsewhere in New York: Buffalo library trustee
resigns under pressure after drag queen story time controversy
<https://buffalonews.com/news/local/buffalo-library-frank-gist-drag-queen-story-time-controversy/article_ad022708-ada1-11ee-b11f-efb8066ef521.html>
(Buffalo News, 16 min). The Washington Post details school book challenges,
noting that LGBTQ books are banned most
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/12/23/school-book-challenges-shelves-lgbtq-authors/>
(20 min). (censorship, access, inclusion)

Book bans use ‘parental rights’ as cover to attack civil liberties,
Democrat warns
<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/book-bans-democrat-warning-maxwell-frost>
(The Guardian, 5 min). Related, Book bans don’t stop kids from learning
about sexuality.
<https://slate.com/culture/2023/12/book-bans-florida-sexuality-lgbtq-online-reading.html>
(Slate, 6 min). More on the book ban movement: Christian Nationalists Are
Demanding the Removal of Books
<https://buckscountybeacon.com/2024/01/christian-nationalists-are-demanding-the-removal-of-books-from-public-and-school-libraries-across-the-country/>
(Bucks County Beacon, 23 min) and The Real Mission Behind Moms for Liberty
<https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/real-mission-behind-moms-liberty-on-the-media>
(WNYC, 19 min). (censorship, access)

Champions of intellectual freedom: ‘Sister-friend’ of Angelou, Baldwin and
Morrison safeguards their books
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/12/29/traylor-book-banning-black-literature/>
(Washington Post, 17 min).  A group of grandparents is mobilizing against
Moms for Liberty
<https://19thnews.org/2023/12/grandparents-for-truth-progressive-force-censorship-moms-for-liberty/>
(The 19th News, 15min). USA Today highlights other groups working against
the rise of book bans
<https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/12/29/more-groups-are-launching-projects-to-stop-the-rise-of-book-bans/72008712007/>
(12 min). The Chicago Teachers Union offered a resolution supporting the
Freedom to Read and protecting school librarians
<https://www.ctulocal1.org/posts/resolution-freedom-to-read/> (3 min). Read
more on how teachers unions are getting involved
<https://www.nea.org/nea-today/all-news-articles/educators-fight-book-bans-through-their-union>
(NEA, 12 min).  RuPaul supports drag queen story hours
<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rupaul-emmy-drag-queen-story-hours-rupauls-drag-race/>
(CBS News, 2 min). GLAAD highlights Joy Reid’s interview of Moms for
Liberty founder
<https://glaad.org/joy-reid-moms-for-liberty-tiffany-justice-interview/> (5
min).  The Guardian reports on a  librarian who defied Russia’s purge of
LGBTQ+ books
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/24/vladimir-kosarevsky-librarian-defied-russia-purge-of-lgbt-books>
(The Guardian, 7 min) - more on book censorship resistance in Russia
<https://meduza.io/en/feature/2024/01/05/you-can-resist-much-more-than-it-seems>.
See also: Librarians, who lost jobs for not banning books, are fighting back
<https://www.npr.org/2024/01/02/1222434162/librarians-who-lost-jobs-for-not-banning-books-are-fighting-back>
(NPR, 5 min) and PEN America, Scholastic Partner to Support Banned Authors
<https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-industry-news/article/94015-pen-america-scholastic-partner-to-support-banned-authors.html>
(Publishers Weekly, 4 min). (censorship, diversity, inclusion)

Legislative action and other state actions: Florida lawmakers eye changes
to book restrictions
<https://www.politico.com/news/2024/01/19/florida-book-challenges-fees-00136409>
(Politico, 7 min). Oklahoma superintendent appoints Libs of TikTok creator
to state library committee
<https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2024/01/23/chaya-raichik-libs-of-tiktok-oklahoma-public-education/72324642007/>
(USA Today, 7 min). Appeals Court Blocks Texas From Enforcing Book Rating
Law
<https://www.the74million.org/article/appeals-court-blocks-texas-from-enforcing-book-rating-law/>
(The 74, 4 min). Iowa attorney general appeals court ruling halting Iowa
law on school books
<https://www.thegazette.com/state-government/iowa-attorney-general-appeals-court-ruling-halting-iowa-law-on-school-books/>
(The Gazette, 6 min). New Mexico
<https://nmpoliticalreport.com/nmleg/bill-would-stop-libraries-from-banning-books/>
(NM Political Report, 5 min) and Masschussets
<https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/lawmakers-weigh-standard-to-guard-access-to-library-books/3244709/>(NBC
Boston, 9 min) consider laws to limit book bans and protect libraries. LA
Times details more legal actions against book bans
<https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2024-01-11/from-iowa-to-florida-lawsuits-against-book-bans-begin-to-gain-traction>
(6 min). (legislation, censorship)

GLAAD explains the recent wave of anti-LGBTQ online hate and disinformation
<https://glaad.org/2023-year-in-review-anti-lgbtq-online-hate-and-disinformation/>
(8 min). The New York Times reports on obituary pirates that spread
disinformation around a person’s death
<https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/25/nyregion/obituary-pirates-matteo-sachman.html>(
17 min). CNN highlights the work of a librarian in providing teens with
tools to navigate fake news
<https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/21/us/teaching-media-literacy-in-schools/index.html>
and online resources (12 min). Nature calls out how misinformation takes
advantage of information gaps and posits the need for media literacy
<https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00030-x> (8 min). (
disinformation, information literacy)

The Conversation provides a guide on protecting your data privacy
<https://theconversation.com/how-to-protect-your-data-privacy-a-digital-media-expert-provides-steps-you-can-take-and-explains-why-you-cant-go-it-alone-221569>,
underscoring that it is a collective effort (8 min). Fortune  reports on
how e-books can be used for corporate surveillance
<https://www.fastcompany.com/90996547/e-books-are-fast-becoming-tools-of-corporate-surveillance>
( 5 min). (privacy)

JD Supra explains the proposed changes to the Children’s Online Privacy
Protection Act (COPPA)
<https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/ftc-proposes-stricter-children-s-9814707/>
(10 min). Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) looks back on internet
privacy and digital rights issues for Kids
<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/12/kids-online-safety-shouldnt-require-massive-online-censorship-and-surveillance>
(8 min) and LGBTQ+ People
<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/12/digital-rights-lgbtq-people-2023-review>
(6 min) in 2023. Read more EFF’s 2023 reports on digital rights
<https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/12/2023-year-review>. (privacy, access)

AI Corner
NPR interviews 'Unmasking AI' author Joy Buolamwini
<https://www.npr.org/2023/11/28/1215529902/unmasking-ai-facial-recognition-technology-joy-buolamwini>,
during which she calls out how prejudice is baked into technology (NPR, 37
min, includes transcript). See also, Buolamwini’s criticisms of AI: 'Proceed
with caution:' AI poses issues of discrimination, surveillance
<https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/01/03/artificial-intelligence-bias>
(WBUR, 5 min). Related, Better Images of AI <https://betterimagesofai.org/>,
which aims to counteract stereotypes in AI images with an image library. (
diversity, information literacy)

Politico highlights how AI can be used both for creation and detection of
disinformation: The AI disinformation wars
<https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2024/01/17/the-ai-disinformation-wars-00136232>
(5min). (disinformation)

The Washington Post highlights the prevalence of AI on big retail sites and
social media platforms
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/01/20/openai-use-policy-ai-writing-amazon-x/>,
calling out clear indicators of AI-generated content (9 min). Reworked
makes the case for digital literacy to navigate information overload
<https://www.reworked.co/digital-workplace/digital-literacy-is-the-antidote-to-poor-information-quality/>
and limit use of AI as a reliable source (10 min)  (information literacy)

An FTC case against ad tech giant Kochava
<https://theconversation.com/data-brokers-know-everything-about-you-what-ftc-case-against-ad-tech-giant-kochava-reveals-218232>
aims to address concerns around data brokers leveraging AI to harvest more
data and prospectively deceive people into giving away personal data.  (The
Conversation, 8 min). BBC reports that the spread of AI-generated images of
Taylor Swift may lead to legislative action
<https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68110476> in Congress, following
similar laws passed in the United Kingdom (3 min). (privacy)

The New York Times provided AI with a prompt and it generated a copyrighted
image
<https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/01/25/business/ai-image-generators-openai-microsoft-midjourney-copyright.html>
(9 min). (copyright)

Additional Resources

ALA Intellectual Freedom Blog: https://www.oif.ala.org A blog dedicated to
intellectual freedom issues, and includes the Intellectual Freedom News
<https://www.oif.ala.org/category/intellectual-freedom-news/> –a weekly
roundup of IF related articles
Oregon Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Toolkit
<https://libguides.osl.state.or.us/iftoolkit/home> (published February 8,
2022). A range of tools and

*Rights, Responsibilities & Reactions* is a monthly roundup of Intellectual
Freedom News compiled by the Multnomah
County Library Intellectual Freedom Committee. We welcome suggestions at
lib.ifc at multco.us.


*Jennifer Keyser *(she/her)
*Policy Coordinator Librarian*
Monday - Friday
971-429-4699
Multnomah County Library
multcolib.org

[image: Copy of MultCoLib_2LineLogo_252px_RGB.jpg]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/libs-or/attachments/20240131/5869aa72/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: January2024_IntellectualFreedomNews.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 168845 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://omls.oregon.gov/pipermail/libs-or/attachments/20240131/5869aa72/attachment.pdf>