At least three counties have removed access to e-reading apps used by schools and libraries in a continued effort to restrict children’s access to books, NBC News reports. In Tennessee, Texas, and Florida, a few parents have objected to digital reading platforms, including OverDrive and Epic, aiming to restrict access to books on gender, race, and LGBTQ+ themes. The apps became even more widely used due to the pandemic and virtual schooling. These bans affect all users, not just individual students, and all titles — removing access to entire digital collections of books for the sake of restricting a few, […]
Book Bans
AAP Meeting Highlights Challenges to Books and Copyright
The AAP convened a virtual annual meeting on Monday, with current board chair (and ceo of HBG USA) Michael Pietsch and AAP president and ceo Maria Pallante reminding the audience of the organization’s current core values and reviewing the abundant challenges they are confronting. “As an industry, we must therefore be vigorously involved in the policy battles that threaten our industry,” Pallante said. “Big Tech” was mentioned multiple times in her remarks, along with “the radical, systematic infringements of the Silicon-valley based Internet Archive, a case we continue to litigate in New York, and the misguided but aggressive actions of […]
Follett Will “Not Proceed” With New Parent Control Tools For Destiny Software
Follett Learning announced on Friday afternoon that it will not proceed with plans to add tools to school library software Destiny enabling customers to comply with recent “parents’ rights bills” that have been introduced in several states. The decision follows criticism online from librarians, who expressed concern that tools allowing parental oversight of school library withdrawals would compromise student’s privacy. Britten Follett, ceo of content, and Paul Ilse, ceo of software, wrote in a statement on Friday: “We take very seriously the feedback we have received from librarians and industry partners regarding a potential parental control module for Destiny Library […]
Follett Letter Urging Librarians to “Come Together” Sparks Online Controversy
Further to yesterday’s story on the new tools Follett Learning is developing for its Destiny software to enable customers to comply with recent “parents’ rights bills,” the company posted a letter on LinkedIn from ceo of content Britten Follett explaining the company’s actions and inviting librarians to a live web chat on Monday, April 4, at 5pm ET. The letter was met with criticism from librarians online, who expressed concern that tools allowing parental oversight of school library withdrawals are unethical and will harm children. Follett writes that this is “an extremely difficult time in education” and the company is […]
Follett to Develop Tools to Monitor Children’s Reading to Comply with “Parents’ Rights Bills”
Education technology company Follett plans to develop new features for school media center software Destiny to help customers comply with so-called “parents’ rights bills” being introduced across the US. An article in Forsyth County News earlier this month reported on changes the Georgia county is making “to increase parental involvement in a student’s book selections and expedite the process by which books that potentially contain sexually explicit material are challenged and removed.” The district contacted Follett “to find a way for parents to have more involvement in what their kids are reading at school.” Proposed solutions include allowing parents to […]
PRH CEO Dohle Pledges $500,000 to PEN America to Fight Book Banning
Penguin Random House ceo Markus Dohle has pledged a donation of “at least $500,000” to PEN America over the next five years to “provide support to communities where books are being challenged.” He has created the Dohle Book Defense Fund to aid legal battles in states such as Texas and South Carolina, where books about race, gender, and sexual orientation have been banned by school boards. PEN America executive Susan Nossel said the fund will be “used to help cover expenses related to PEN’s efforts to fight those challenges, including consultants, lawyers and costs associated with public campaigns and media […]