Advocacy & Public Policy Committee News Alerts v.10 n. 8, August 2023

Advocacy & Public Policy Committee News Alerts support the committee's mission to monitor governmental activities and social justice issues affecting the professional interests of ARLIS/NA and to keep the ARLIS/NA membership informed. The monthly alerts are intended to be conversation starters, help members keep up on public policy issues and alert members to new developments. The articles compiled in the News Alerts bring to the forefront recent news from a range of perspectives designed to elicit discussion; they are not compiled to represent the views of ARLIS as an organization or the members of the Advocacy and Public Policy Committee.

Previous issues can be found here: https://www.arlisna.org/news/appc-news-alert

Art and Activism

• Ho, Karen K. "Climate Activist Smears Paint on National Gallery of Canada Painting." ARTnews, August 29, 2023.

• Ho, Karen K. “Smithsonian Secretary Apologizes After Human Brain Specimens Investigation.” ARTnews, August 22, 2023. 

• McGrady, Clyde. “Is Social Justice for the Birds? Audubon Attempts an Answer.” The New York Times, August 7, 2023.

• Schuessler, Jennifer. “At the Roosevelt Library, an Unflinching Look at Race.” The New York Times, August 1, 2023.

• Solomon, Tessa. “Cuban Artists Sign Open Letter Urging Boycott in Protest of ‘Persistent Human Rights Violations.’” ARTnews, August 30, 2023.

• Velie, Elaine. “Open Letter Calls On British Museum to Drop BP Name.” Hyperallergic, August 7, 2023.

• Zastudil, Nancy. “The Art World Isn’t Enough.” Hyperallergic, August 6, 2023.

Copyright and Licensing

• Bedingfield, Will. “The Inventor Behind a Rush of AI Copyright Suits Is Trying to Show His Bot Is Sentient.” Wired, August 31, 2023. 

• Brittain, Blake, and Blake Brittain. “AI-Generated Art Cannot Receive Copyrights, US Court Says.” Reuters, August, 21. 2023. 

• Noveck, Jocelyn, and Matt O'Brien. “Visual artists fight back against AI companies for repurposing their work.” Associated Press, August 30, 2023. 

• Small, Zachary. “As Fight Over A.I. Artwork Unfolds, Judge Rejects Copyright Claim.” The New York Times, August 21, 2023. 

• Velie, Elaine. “Museum Settles With Translator Whose Work Was Used Without Permission.” Hyperallergic, August 8, 2023.

• Walsh, Kat. “Understanding CC Licenses and Generative AI.” Creative Commons, August 18, 2023. 

Funding

• Andrew, Gretchen. “Venture capital and other tech-industry funding methods come to the art world.” The Art Newspaper, August 21, 2023.

• Duron, Maximiliano. “Helen Frankenthaler Foundation Donates $2 M. to SAAM Fellowship." ARTnews, July 31, 2023.

• Holmes, Jacob. "Level-funding of Prattville library infuriates book-challenging group." Alabama Political Reporter, August 17, 2023.

• Johnson, Alyssa and Henry Jost. "New Latino Smithsonian museum moving forward after Republicans threatened funding." Miami Herald, August 13, 2023.

• Kanygin, Jordan. "'Blocking the wrong people': Calgary Public Library sees increase in membership, borrowing 3 years after going fine-free." CTV News, August 1, 2023.

• Nayyar, Rhea. "LA’s Black Image Center at Risk of Closure." Hyperallergic, August 23, 2023.

• Press Release, "IMLS Awards $5.7 Million to Strengthen Library Services for Tribal Communities, Native Hawaiians." Institute of Museum and Library Services, August 24, 2023.

Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA)

• Cotter, Holland. “On the Hudson, Visions for a New Native American Art.” The New York Times, August 10, 2023.

• Garcia, Raymond. “ALA Upholds Its Support for LGBTQIA+ Library Workers and Reaffirms Its Commitment to Equity and Inclusivity.” News and Press Center, August 8, 2023. 

• IFLA. “IFLA Governing Board Decides on WLIC 2024.” August 11, 2023. 

• Parker, Susan E. “ARL Statement on IFLA Congress in Dubai.” Association of Research Libraries, August 1, 2023. 

• Samuels, Emily. “Los Angeles Public Library Acquires New Archive Highlighting L.A.’s Queer, Latinx History.” Los Angeles Daily News, August 3, 2023. 

• Schonfeld, Roger C., and Danielle Miriam Cooper. “Redressing Relationships with the Historically Marginalized/ Redresser Les Relations Avec Les Personnes Historiquement Marginalisées.” Ithaka S+R, August 21, 2023. 

• Storms, Nola. “The Black Library in Monticello Opens August 12.” Chronogram Magazine, August 8, 2023.
  
  

Intellectual Freedom/Access to Information

•  Abramsky, Sasha. "The Small-Town Library That Became a Culture War Battleground." The Nation, August 7, 2023.

• Baker, Oscar III. "Meta's removal of Canadian news impacting Indigenous media and communities." CBC News, August 11, 2023.

• Ellis, Danika. "Book Bans Could Mean the Return of Child-Free Libraries." BOOK RIOT, August 4, 2023. 

• Garcia, Raymond. “ALA and AASL Respond to Houston Independent School District’s Decision to Eliminate 28 School Libraries and Respective School Librarians in Houston.” ALA News, August 1, 2023. 

• Gould, Jessica. "A 'teen council' at the Brooklyn Public Library Combats Book Bans Nationwide." Gothamist, August 2, 2023.

• Greenberger, Alex. "Arizona Show with Shepard Fairey Work About Police Brutality Is Postponed, Prompting Censorship Allegations." ARTnews.Com, August 11, 2023.

• Hanna, Maddie. “The Glenside Library Has Been Promoting Books That Central Bucks Residents Are Trying to Ban.” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 1, 2023.

• Hines, Shawnda. "Freedom to Read Foundation Welcomes Preliminary Injunction barring Implementation of Arkansas Act 372." ALA News, August 2, 2023.

• Naprys, Ernestas. “Eroding online privacy will hinder security not improve it, experts warn.” Cybernews, August 25, 2023.

• “Booklash: Literary Freedom, Online Outrage, and Language of Harm.” PEN America, August 4, 2023.

Technology

• Cyriac, George, Wai Ming Yap, and Dr. Axel Spies. “India Enacts New Privacy Law: The Digital Personal Data Protection Act.” Morgan Lewis, August 28, 2023.

• Farah, Hibaq. “Google to launch privacy tools which remove unwanted personal images.” The Guardian, August 3, 2023. 

• Goldin, Melissa. “Zoom says it isn’t training AI on calls without consent. But other data is fair game.” AP News, August 9, 2023.

• Goth, Brenna. “The Rise in State Online Consumer Data Privacy Laws: Explained.” Bloomberg, August 2, 2023.

• Grant, Nico, Natasha Singer, and Aaron Krolik. “YouTube Ads May Have Led to Online Tracking of Children, Research Says.” The New York Times, August 17, 2023.

• Hainsworth, Jeremy. “Embrace, don’t fear artificial intelligence art, says B.C. researcher.” BIV, August 23, 2023.

• Schwarz, Gabrielle. “Meet the artists reclaiming AI from big tech – with the help of cats, bees and drag queens.” The Guardian, August 10, 2023.

• Toronto Downtown West BIA. “Art and Technology Converge with Launch of ArtWalk 2.0.” Cision, August 31, 2023. 

• Voon, Claire. “New augmented reality app turns objects at the Metropolitan Museum into digital gaming accessories.” The Art Newspaper, August 1, 2023.

• Wicaksono, Irmandy. “Seamlessly Weaving Textile Art, Culture and Technology in the ‘Living Knitwork Pavilion’.” Burning Man Journal, August 24, 2023.

Workplace

• "On Day 20 of library strike, it’s time for women to be lifted out of poverty." Community Wire, August 9, 2023.

• "CUPE 2403’s new deal addresses cost of living, shows value of unionization for library workers." CUPEBC, August 9, 2023.

• Dafoe, Taylor.  “Unionized Workers at the Art Institute of Chicago Have Ratified a ‘Landmark’ First Contract, Ending 15 Months of Negotiations,” ArtNews, August 17, 2023. 

• Skura, Elyse. "Parliamentary workers hit bargaining deadlock, union says." CBC News, August 3, 2023.
  
  

Miscellaneous

• Ho, Karen K. "N. C. Wyeth Painting Found at Thrift Shop Could Be Worth $250,000." ARTnews, August 30, 2023.

• Jones, Sam. “Some dementia patients begin to create art. We may now know why.” The Washington Post, August 10, 2023.

• “[Interview] The Convergence of Art, Technology and Culture: Exploring the Work of Aerosyn-Lex Mestrovic Through Samsung Art Store.” Samsung Newsroom, August 30, 2023.

This issue of News Alerts was compiled by Freyja Catton, Carrie Evans, Sal Hamerman, Michele Jennings, Stephanie Kays, Annie Sollinger, and Petra Warren.