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Rightwing groups across US push new bans to limit 'obscene' books in libraries
Rightwing groups around the US are pushing legislation that would place new limits on what books are allowed in school libraries in a move that critics decry as censorship often focused on LGBTQ+ issues or race or imposing conservative social values.
Once again, federal judge blocks a book banning law in Iowa
On March 25, U.S. District Court judge Stephen Locher of the Southern District of Iowa reinstated an injunction against book restrictions in Iowa Senate File 496, a 2023 state law that has resulted in the removal of hundreds of books from Iowa public school libraries. Locher concluded "that Senate File 496 is likely facially unconstitutional […]
Iowa law banning books including 1984 and Ulysses blocked by US federal judge
A lawsuit brought by publishers and authors including John Green and Jodi Picoult has led to a portion of a law banning Iowa school libraries and classrooms from carrying books depicting sex acts being halted.
'No consent': Australian authors 'livid' that Meta may have used their books to train AI
Australian authors say they are "livid" and feel violated that their work was included in an allegedly pirated dataset of books Meta used to train its AI. The parent company of Facebook and Instagram is being sued by authors in the United States, including Ta-Nehisi Coates and the comedian Sarah Silverman, for copyright infringement.
U.S. to shut Canadian entrance to beloved Vermont-Quebec border library
For 120 years, the Haskell Free Library & Opera House has straddled the Quebec-Vermont border, offering equal access to Canadians and Americans alike, passport-free. That was the vision of its founder, the philanthropist and dual-citizen Martha Haskell, who believed in friendship between the two countries. As of next week, that remarkable run of binational harmony […]
The unbelievable scale of AI's pirated-books problem
When employees at Meta started developing their flagship AI model, Llama 3, they faced a simple ethical question. The program would need to be trained on a huge amount of high-quality writing to be competitive with products such as ChatGPT, and acquiring all of that text legally could take time. Should they just pirate it […]
Executive Order targets the Institute for Museum and Library Services
In a March 14 executive order, the Trump Administration is seeking to eliminate the Institute for Museum and Library Services "to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law." The EO states that the IMLS—along with six additional entities including the U.S. Agency for Global Media and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at the […]
AAP urges White House to prioritize copyright in AI action plan
On Saturday, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) issued a response to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's request for public comment regarding the development of the Administration's Artificial Intelligence Action Plan. In their submission, the AAP emphasized the critical role of copyright protections in maintaining American leadership in AI markets.
PEN America's World Voices Festival, Literary Awards to return
PEN America has announced that two of its tentpole spring events—the World Voices Festival and Literary Awards—will return this year. The festival and awards were canceled in 2024 after a number of authors withdrew from participation in protest of the organization's response to the war in Gaza.
Fast-growing indie publishers: 5 standouts of 2024
It has not been easy for smaller independent publishers to prosper in the post pandemic world. Rising costs coupled with flat industry sales have forced them to seek savings, often by limiting marketing efforts. And while larger houses can use acquisitions to create better operating efficiencies to protect their bottom lines, most indie presses don't […]