Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Let Freedom Read: Exploring Banned Books And Intellectual Freedom In Florida, Christopher M. Jimenez, George Pearson, Melissa Del Castillo, Stephen Thomson Moore, Lowell Bryan Cooper, Jacqueline Radebaugh

Works of the FIU Libraries

On October 5, 2023, the FIU Libraries’ Academic and Intellectual Freedom Committee hosted a crucial discussion on the current state of book banning and censorship in the United States, with a specific focus on Florida. This special session was part of the First Thursdays Library lecture series.

During the event, attendees were presented with startling statistics from the American Libraries Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom (ALA OIF), PEN America, the Florida Freedom to Read Foundation (FFTRF), and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) that led experts to declare 2022 the worst year for book bans in history. The …

Beyond Misinformation: The Misrepresentation And Misappropriation Of Research, Winn W. Wasson

Libraries' and Librarians' Publications

The contemporary information landscape has produced numerous incidents of researchers having their research misunderstood, misrepresented, or misappropriated—or worse, being subjected to intimidation and harassment—by individuals or groups who seek to cherry-pick evidence in support of ideological agendas or who wish to suppress evidence that counters those same agendas. While the covid-19 pandemic elevated these tactics in their frequency, visibility, and intensity, this phenomenon did not start or end with the pandemic. To help prepare current and future researchers for the possibility that their research might be misrepresented, misappropriated, or politicized in other ways by ideologically motivated individuals or groups, Syracuse …

The Threat To Academic & Intellectual Freedom, Christopher M. Jimenez, Melissa Del Castillo, Stephen Thomson Moore, Lowell Bryan Cooper, Jacqueline Radebaugh, George Pearson

Works of the FIU Libraries

The Academic and Intellectual Freedom Ad Hoc Committee presented a First Thursday discussion on May 4 about academic and intellectual freedom. Starting with a brief definition of these terms, they traced the history of Academic Freedom and how current events affect us at FIU. The committee posed several real-life scenarios threatening Academic/Intellectual Freedom in libraries. All library staff were invited to attend this lively discussion.

Beyond Misinformation: Educating Our Campuses About The Misrepresentation And Misappropriation Of Research, Winn W. Wasson

Libraries' and Librarians' Publications

The contemporary information landscape has produced numerous incidents of researchers having their research misrepresented or misappropriated—or worse, being subjected to intimidation and harassment—by individuals or groups who seek to cherry-pick evidence in support of ideological agendas or who wish to suppress evidence that counters those same agendas. While the COVID-19 pandemic has elevated these tactics in their frequency, visibility, and intensity, this phenomenon is by no means unique to the pandemic. Medievalists and Classicists have seen their research become politicized by white supremacists, and historians and archaeologists of ancient India have had to push back against religious nationalist narratives that …

A Failure To Communicate: Assessing The Low Rate Of Materials Challenge And Censorship Reporting Among Canadian Public Libraries, Mike Nyby, Heather Hill, Richard Ellis

FIMS Publications

Record levels of materials challenges have affected libraries in both Canada and the United States in recent years, (American Library Association, 2023c; Canadian Federation of Library Associations, 2015-2022), but despite the apparent swell in censorship efforts, the ALA estimates that 82-92% of challenges go unreported (Doyle 2017). This study aims to identify factors contributing to the low rate of challenge reporting through a participation survey distributed to over 500 Canadian public libraries. Results indicate low awareness reporting mechanisms is likely the largest obstacle to greater participation, but obstacles related to library policy, including delegation and challenge policy structure, also exist.

Prison Libraries, Intellectual Freedom And Social Justice In Nigeria, Olusegun Adebayo Opesanwo, Oluyomi Abidemi Awofeso Phd

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This paper deployed a systematic review to examine prison libraries and intellectual freedom towards attaining social justice in Nigeria. Information resources used cover the periods of 2010 and 2020 to articulate the necessary development in prison libraries, intellectual freedom and social justice in Nigeria. Search engines such as Google scholar, Semantic Scholar, and RefSeek were used to retrieve information and through different queries yielded several results but very few of them were selected to fit in the study due to limited studies directed to address the focus of this study particularly in the Nigeria scenario. Information obtained were subjected to …