Florida settles lawsuit after challenge to ‘don’t say gay’ law; Associated Press via The Guardian, March 11, 2024

Associated Press via The Guardian ; Florida settles lawsuit after challenge to ‘don’t say gay’ law

"Under the terms of the settlement, the Florida board of education will send instructions to every school district saying the Florida law does not prohibit discussing LGBTQ+ people, nor prevent anti-bullying rules on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or disallow Gay-Straight Alliance groups. The settlement also spells out that the law is neutral – meaning what applies to LGBTQ+ people also applies to heterosexual people – and that it doesn’t apply to library books not being used for instruction in the classroom.

The law also doesn’t apply to books with incidental references to LGBTQ+ characters or same-sex couples, “as they are not instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity any more than a math problem asking students to add bushels of apples is instruction on apple farming”, according to the settlement.

“What this settlement does, is, it re-establishes the fundamental principal, that I hope all Americans agree with, which is every kid in this country is entitled to an education at a public school where they feel safe, their dignity is respected and where their families and parents are welcomed,” Roberta Kaplan, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an interview."

The Book Banners and I Have One Thing in Common; The New York Times, August 14, 2023

Garret Keizer, The New York Times; The Book Banners and I Have One Thing in Common

"More than half a century has passed since I graduated from high school, an eon in digital time, but the project to remove books from schools and libraries was almost as hot an issue then as it is now. Even classics can go out of print, but the war on books is never out of style.

I was as opposed to that war at the age of 17 as I am at age 70. But there’s something I failed to see in my youth that I recognize today: the one piece of common ground between the book banners and me. We both believe that books matter, that they have the power to change a young person’s life. Like it or not, we belong to the same minority, the minority of those who believe in the power of literature in a post-literate age."

The Dream Was Universal Access to Knowledge. The Result Was a Fiasco.; The New York Times, August 13, 2023

 David Streitfeld, The New York Times; The Dream Was Universal Access to Knowledge. The Result Was a Fiasco.

"In the middle of this mess are writers, whose job is to produce the books that contain much of the world’s best information. Despite that central role, they are largely powerless — a familiar position for most writers. Emotions are running high...

It’s rarely this nasty, but free vs. expensive is a struggle that plays out continuously against all forms of media and entertainment. Neither side has the upper hand forever, even if it sometimes seems it might.

“The more information is free, the more opportunities for it to be collected, refined, packaged and made expensive,” said Stewart Brand, the technology visionary who first developed the formulation. “The more it is expensive, the more workarounds to make it free. It’s a paradox. Each side makes the other true.”"

The Small-Town Library That Became a Culture War Battleground; The Nation, August 7, 2023

SASHA ABRAMSKY, The Nation; The Small-Town Library That Became a Culture War Battleground

"Over the past couple of years, movements that seek to ban books with LGBTQ+ or racial justice themes have picked up steam in GOP-controlled states around the country. Pro-censorship groups have sprung up at both the local and national levels, pioneered by a Florida outfit with the Orwellian appellation Moms for Liberty. The organization is endorsed by Steve Bannon, the Heritage Foundation, and other avatars of the hard right and has more than 200 local chapters. Egged on by such groups, legislatures in Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, Idaho, Indiana, and other states have either passed or are considering policies restricting what sorts of books can be on school library shelves or lent to children from public libraries. The tiny town of Dayton is one of the latest flash points of this effort to limit what young readers can access."

Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor’s staff prodded colleges and libraries to buy her books; AP, July 11, 2023

BRIAN SLODYSKO AND ERIC TUCKER, AP; Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor’s staff prodded colleges and libraries to buy her books

"Sotomayor’s staff has often prodded public institutions that have hosted the justice to buy her memoir or children’s books, works that have earned her at least $3.7 million since she joined the court in 2009. Details of those events, largely out of public view, were obtained by The Associated Press through more than 100 open records requests to public institutions. The resulting tens of thousands of pages of documents offer a rare look at Sotomayor and her fellow justices beyond their official duties.

In her case, the documents reveal repeated examples of taxpayer-funded court staff performing tasks for the justice’s book ventures, which workers in other branches of government are barred from doing. But when it comes to promoting her literary career, Sotomayor is free to do what other government officials cannot because the Supreme Court does not have a formal code of conduct, leaving the nine justices to largely write and enforce their own rules.

“This is one of the most basic tenets of ethics laws that protects taxpayer dollars from misuse,” said Kedric Payne, a former deputy chief counsel at the Office of Congressional Ethics and current general counsel for the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan government watchdog group in Washington. “The problem at the Supreme Court is there’s no one there to say whether this is wrong.”"

‘It’s not climate change, it’s everything change’: sci-fi authors take on the global crisis; The Observer via The Guardian, July 9, 2023

David Barnett, The Observer via The Guardian; ‘It’s not climate change, it’s everything change’: sci-fi authors take on the global crisis

"Science fiction has always sounded a warning about human behaviour and its possible consequences, she adds. “It deals with a futuristic imagining based on the scientific, moral and social principles of the ‘now’ – and the author taking them a step further, into the ‘then’.

“Whether it’s the imaginings of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and a dystopian future cowed by mass surveillance and regimentation of its people or Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, with its patriarchal and white supremacist control over women’s bodies – science fiction has shown readers what can happen should the worst actions of society follow an upward trajectory and become a dystopian style-future.”"

What’s Lost When Censors Tamper With Classic Films; The New York Times, July 6, 2023

 Niela Orr, The New York Times; What’s Lost When Censors Tamper With Classic Films

"Censors, like overzealous cops, can be too aggressive, or too simplistic, in their attempts to neutralize perceived threats. Whoever made the cut in the precinct scene, sparing the hero from saying unpleasant things, did nothing to remove other ethnic insults, from references to Italian Americans to the cops’ code names for their French targets: “Frog One” and “Frog Two.” It also becomes hilarious, in this sanitized context, to watch the film’s frequent nonlinguistic violence: A guy is shot in the face; a train conductor is blasted in the chest; a sniper misses Doyle and clips a woman pushing a stroller.

Surveillance, as the movie teaches us, is a game of dogged attention; focus too much on one thing and you miss a world of detail encircling it. Nit-picking old artworks for breaking today’s rules inevitably makes it harder to see the complete picture, the full context; we become, instead, obsessed with obscure metrics, legalistic violations of current sensibilities. And actively changing those works — continually remolding them into a shape that suits today’s market — eventually compromises the entire archival record of our culture; we’re left only with evidence of the present, not a document of the past."

Ethical, legal issues raised by ChatGPT training literature; Tech Explore, May 8, 2023

 Peter Grad , Tech Xplore; Ethical, legal issues raised by ChatGPT training literature

""Knowing what books a model has been trained on is critical to assess such sources of bias," they said.

"Our work here has shown that OpenAI models know about books in proportion to their popularity on the web."

Works detected in the Berkeley study include "Harry Potter," "1984," "Lord of the Rings," "Hunger Games," "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," "Fahrenheit 451," "A Game of Thrones" and "Dune."

While ChatGPT was found to be quite knowledgeable about works in the public domain, lesser known works such as Global Anglophone Literature—readings aimed beyond core English-speaking nations that include Africa, Asia and the Caribbean—were largely unknown. Also overlooked were works from the Black Book Interactive Project and Black Caucus Library Association award winners.

"We should be thinking about whose narrative experiences are encoded in these models, and how that influences other behaviors," Bamman, one of the Berkeley researchers, said in a recent Tweet. He added, "popular texts are probably not good barometers of model performance [given] the bias toward sci-fi/fantasy.""

Hong Kong public libraries should disclose books pulled from shelves, give reasons for censorship so authors can appeal: government adviser; South China Morning Post, May 17, 2023

Natalie Wongand Jeffie Lam, South China Morning Post; Hong Kong public libraries should disclose books pulled from shelves, give reasons for censorship so authors can appeal: government adviser

"Hong Kong’s public libraries should establish a mechanism for disclosing books pulled from their shelves and explain the reasons for the decision to allow authors of censored titles a chance to appeal, a government adviser has said.

Chui Yat-hung, who sits on the Public Libraries Advisory Committee, on Wednesday also said that books about local social movements should not be censored if they were factual accounts of political events, rather than subjective ones.

“They are history after all,” he told a radio programme.

Hours after Chui made the remarks, members of the 23-strong committee were told by its secretariat to refrain from speaking to the media, the Post learned.

The lack of transparency in the ongoing action by the city’s public library operator to root out works contrary to national security also sparked concerns among educators."

The lack of transparency in the ongoing action by the city’s public library operator to root out works contrary to national security also sparked concerns among educators.

Tiananmen books disappear from Hong Kong library shelves; Aljazeera, May 18, 2023

 Aljazeera; Tiananmen books disappear from Hong Kong library shelves

"Hong Kong must not “recommend books with unhealthy ideas”, the territory’s leader John Lee has said, after it emerged books related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown had been removed from public libraries.

The discovery was made after a prominent political cartoonist – whose work often satirised Hong Kong’s relationship with mainland China – was suspended indefinitely from publishing in a mainstream newspaper, and had his books removed from the city’s libraries."

Va. Republicans try to restrict minors’ access to two books after judge’s obscenity finding; Virginia Mercury, May 19, 2022

GRAHAM MOOMAW, Virginia Mercury; Va. Republicans try to restrict minors’ access to two books after judge’s obscenity finding

‘They’re basically treated like adult magazines now’

"Anderson said he’s only trying to restrict the books’ availability to minors, not to censor or ban them entirely."

“It’s just, they’re basically treated like adult magazines now,” Anderson said. “You can’t go watch an R-rated movie without your parents there. Same concept.”

The legal maneuver was already drawing backlash Thursday.

“Virginia Republicans want to ban books. Everywhere — they aren’t stopping at schools & libraries,” Del. Marcus Simon, D-Fairfax, said on Twitter. “They are authoritarian bullies who want to control what you see, hear, learn and read. Everything they baselessly accuse the left of doing, they do.”

A little-utilized state law allows “any citizen” to ask a court to weigh in on books alleged to be obscene.

After reviewing the two contested books, retired Petersburg-area Judge Pamela Baskervill issued two orders on May 18 finding probable cause the books could qualify as obscene, an initial step that allows the books’ authors and publishers to respond in defense of their work within 21 days of being notified of the court proceedings. Baskervill is handling the case because all other judges in Virginia Beach recused themselves, according to Anderson.

Once a probable cause finding is made, the law also allows the court to grant a temporary restraining order “against the sale or distribution of the book alleged to be obscene.”"

Central Bucks is proposing a library policy that targets ‘sexualized content.’ Here’s why people are concerned.; The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 21, 2022

 Maddie Hanna, The Philadelphia Inquirer; Central Bucks is proposing a library policy that targets ‘sexualized content.’ Here’s why people are concerned.

"Facing a packed room of vocal community members Thursday night, the Central Bucks School Board sought to tamp down criticism of a proposed library policy that has spurred fears of censorship and attracted the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The board’s policy committee did end up striking provisions that would have required all new books to gain its approval before they could be added to school libraries, a standard that some called burdensome and that would cede too much power to the board. And although critics said policy language targeting “sexualized content” would encompass too broad a swath of books, the board’s president promised the classics would remain, and there would still be “some discretion.”

But both the ACLU and Education Law Center, which are closely following the district’s actions, said Friday the policy advanced by the committee was still problematic.

“They’re playing with fire here,” said Vic Walczak, legal director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania."

‘Everywhere Babies,’ a picture book celebrating infants, just got banned; The Washington Post, April 22, 2022

Caitlin Gibson, The Washington Post; ‘Everywhere Babies,’ a picture book celebrating infants, just got banned

Author Susan Meyers and illustrator Marla Frazee respond to their book being banned from school libraries in Walton County, Fla.

"Meyers and Frazee each spoke to me about their book, the experience of seeing it banned from public school libraries for the first time, and what they hope parents might take away from what’s happening in Walton County and beyond. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity...

What would you want to say to parents about what’s happening with books like yours and so many others being removed from school libraries and public libraries?

SM: Parents have to open their eyes and see what’s going on around them. If you don’t agree with this take, what these people are doing, you better show up at your local school board meeting. Authoritarian and fascist communities, this is what they always go for, they always burn the books. It actually shows the power of books. If they didn’t have any power, they wouldn’t be burning or banning them. So that’s one thing to remember and celebrate: The power of books.

MF: I watched Mallory McMorrow’s speech the other day, the state legislator in Michigan. I feel like what she said — how either we oppose the rise of this hate or we enable it — that is absolutely the truth. I think that’s exactly where we are. So for parents, I just think what’s important is to stand up for the children who don’t have any voices. Even if you’re not in a county like Walton County, Florida, even if you’re in a county where you don’t think this is going to happen, it very well could happen. I think we all have to be very aware of that possibility and start speaking out. We can’t leave it to marginalized groups to speak out. We all have to speak out."

New ALA Poll Shows Voters Oppose Book Bans; American Libraries, March 24, 2022

American Libraries; New ALA Poll Shows Voters Oppose Book Bans

"A new national poll commissioned by the American Library Association (ALA) released on March 24 shows that seven in 10 voters oppose removing books from public libraries, including majorities of voters across party lines. In addition, 74% of parents of public school children expressed confidence in school libraries and librarians to choose which books are available to children and said books that have been contested should be available on an age-appropriate basis.

The poll, conducted March 1–6, surveyed 1,000 voters and 472 parents of children in public schools. It is the first to view the issue of book bans through the lens of public and school libraries. The poll’s results demonstrate that voters have a high regard for librarians and recognize the critical role libraries play in their communities. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that book bans are far from being a partisan issue; they are opposed by large majorities of voters regardless of personal political affiliation.

“The survey results confirm what we have known and observed: that banning books is widely opposed by most voters and parents,” said ALA President Patricia “Patty” M. Wong in a March 24 statement. “As a career librarian who began in public libraries working with children, I’m thrilled to see that parents have a high degree of confidence in school libraries’ decisions about their collections and very few think that school librarians ignore parents’ concerns. This truly validates the value and integrity of library professionals at a time when many are feeling burned out because of accusations made by small but loud groups.”

More than 330 cases of book bans and challenges were reported to ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) between September 1 and November 30, 2021. The total number of challenges in 2021 was more than double the number of reports from 2020 (156 challenges) and exceeded the overall number of challenges from 2019 (377 challenges).

OIF will announce the full 2021 book challenge totals and its annual Top 10 List of Most Challenged Books on April 4, during National Library Week (April 3–9). Additionally, the annual accounting of book censorship in the US will be released as part of ALA’s State of America’s Libraries 2022 report.

More data points from the poll:

• 71% of respondents oppose efforts to have books removed from their local public libraries, including majorities of Democrats (75%), independents (58%), and Republicans (70%)
• Most voters and parents are confident library workers can make good decisions about what books to include in collections and agree that libraries in their communities do a good job of offering books with broad and diverse viewpoints
• Voters across the political spectrum have a sense of the importance of public libraries (95% of Democrats, 78% of independents, 87% of Republicans) and school libraries (96% of Democrats, 85% of independents, 91% of Republicans)

The poll was conducted by Hart Research Associates and North Star Opinion Research on behalf of ALA. It included 1,000 voters and 472 parents of children in public schools. The sample is demographically and geographically representative of voters and parents in the US. Additional survey findings and methodology can be found on the ALA website.""

WHY IS PUBLISHING PLAGIARISM STILL POSSIBLE?; Book Riot, February 15, 2022

 Alice Nuttall, Book Riot; WHY IS PUBLISHING PLAGIARISM STILL POSSIBLE?

"Spotting plagiarism in books, though, still seems to be a matter for eagle-eyed readers or wronged authors. Why, in a world where there’s an app or a programme for everything, is publishing plagiarism still possible?"

Opinion: I witnessed brutal censorship in Iran. We should all take U.S. book bans as a warning.; The Washington Post; February 14, 2022

Azar Nafisi, The Washington Post; Opinion: I witnessed brutal censorship in Iran. We should all take U.S. book bans as a warning.

"Azar Nafisi is the author of “Reading Lolita in Tehran.” Her new book, “Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times,” comes out in March.

First they burn books, then they kill people!”

That line often came to mind when I was living in the Islamic Republic of Iran, every time the regime closed a bookstore or a publishing house, every time it censored, banned, jailed or even killed authors. It never occurred to me that one day I would repeat the same sentiment in a democracy, in my new home, the United States of America...

It is alarming to think that American communities in 2022 are actively seeking to deprive people of the reading experiences for which my students in Iran paid such a heavy price. For I can tell you: Book bans are canaries in coal mines — indicators of the direction in which a society is moving.

In recent years, we have seen how truth is replaced by lies, and how dangerous a cultivated ignorance can be, especially when it is embraced by our political leaders and our loudest media commentators, those with the largest bullhorns. Book-banning is a form of silencing, and it is the next step along a continuum — one that I worry even in the United States presages a further slide toward totalitarianism."

Democracy activists' books unavailable in Hong Kong libraries after new law; Reuters, July 5, 2020

Reuters; Democracy activists' books unavailable in Hong Kong libraries after new law

"Books by prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy figures have become unavailable in the Chinese-ruled city’s public libraries as they are being reviewed to see whether they violate a new national security law, a government department said on Sunday. 

The sweeping legislation, which came into force on Tuesday night at the same time its contents were published, punishes crimes related to secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with punishments of up to life in prison.

Hong Kong public libraries “will review whether certain books violate the stipulations of the National Security Law,” the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, which runs the libraries, said in a statement.

“While legal advice will be sought in the process of the review, the books will not be available for borrowing and reference in libraries.""

Kona Stories Book Store to Celebrate Banned Book Week; Big Island Now, September 21, 2019

Big Island Now; Kona Stories Book Store to Celebrate Banned Book Week

"At its heart, Banned Books Week is a celebration of the freedom to access ideas, a fundamental right that belongs to everyone and over which no one person or small group of people should hold sway.

Banned Books Week is a celebration of books, comics, plays, art, journalism and much more. 

At Kona Stories Book Store, books have been wrapped in paper bags to disguise the title. Books are decorated with red “I read banned books” stickers and a brief description of why they are on the list.

Customers are encouraged to buy the books without knowing the titles."

Keep your tidy, spark-joy hands off my book piles, Marie Kondo; The Washington Post, January 10, 2019

Ron Charles, The Washington Post; Keep your tidy, spark-joy hands off my book piles, Marie Kondo

"“Books are the reflection of your thoughts and values,” Kondo says, and she’s right, but then she’s so wrong when she goes on to tell her television audience: “By tidying books, it will show you what kind of information is important to you at this moment.”

That’s the problem with Kondo’s method. It presumes a kind of self-consciousness that no real lover of literature actually feels. We don’t keep books because we know “what kind of information is important to us at this moment.” We keep them because we don’t know.

So take your tidy, magic hands off my piles, if you please. That great jumble of fond memories, intellectual challenges and future delights doesn’t just spark, it warms the whole house."

What we gain from keeping books – and why it doesn’t need to be ‘joy’ ; The Guardian, January 7, 2019

Anakana Schofield, The Guardian; What we gain from keeping books – and why it doesn’t need to be ‘joy’

"The metric of objects only “sparking joy” is deeply problematic when applied to books. The definition of joy (for the many people yelling at me on Twitter, who appear to have Konmari’d their dictionaries) is: “A feeling of great pleasure and happiness, a thing that causes joy, success or satisfaction.” This is a ludicrous suggestion for books. Literature does not exist only to provoke feelings of happiness or to placate us with its pleasure; art should also challenge and perturb us.

We live in a frantic, goal-obsessed, myopic time. Everything undertaken has to have a purpose, outcome or a destination, or it’s invalid. But art doesn’t care a noodle about your Apple watch, your fitness goals, active lifestyle, right swipes, career and surrender on black pudding. Art will be around far longer than Kondo’s books remain in print. Art exists on its own terms and untidy timeline."