Advocacy & Public Policy Committee News Alerts v.10 n. 9, September 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

• Grant, Melissa Gira. “Librarians Didn’t Sign Up to Be Queer Activists—but This Year, They Are.” The New Republic, September 15, 2023.

• Greenberger, Alex. “16 Climate Activists Arrested at MoMA During Protest Over Donor Henry Kravis.” ARTnews, September 18, 2023.

• Solomon, Tessa. “V&A Dundee Is Latest UK Museum to Strip the Sackler Name from Its Walls.” ARTnews, September 5, 2023.

• Villa, Angelica. “Climate Activists Decry Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Closure." ARTnews, September 11, 2023.

Copyright and Licensing

• Brittain, Blake, and Blake Brittain. “Writers Suing OpenAI Fire Back at Company’s Copyright Defense.” Reuters, September 28, 2023.

• Burke, Kelly. “‘Biggest Act of Copyright Theft in History’: Thousands of Australian Books Allegedly Used to Train AI Model.” The Guardian, September 28, 2023, sec. Australia news.

• Edwards, Benj. “US Rejects AI Copyright for Famous State Fair-Winning Midjourney Art.” Ars Technica, September 11, 2023.

• Grant, Daniel. “Artists, Writers, Performers and Their Advocates Call on US Congress to Ban Companies from Copyrighting AI-Generated Art,” The Art Newspaper, September 27, 2023.

• Heikkilä, Melissa. “Getty Images Promises Its New AI Contains No Copyrighted Art.” MIT Technology Review, September 25, 2023.  

• Ho, Karen K. “Archaeologist Accuses Manhattan DA Of Abusing Intellectual Property." ARTnews, September 27, 2023.

• Lee, Timothy B. “Opinion: The Copyright Office Is Making a Mistake on AI-Generated Art.” Ars Technica, September 22, 2023.  

• Sebastian, Meryl. “Humans of New York’s Brandon Stanton Wades into India Copyright Row.” BBC News, September 26, 2023.  

Funding

• Kaplan, Juliana. "Biden's economic policies have quietly made peoples' lives better — and no one seems to care." Insider, September 17, 2023.

• Nicholls, Katie. "Public library see increase in usage, programming and funding in 2022." TB News Watch, September 2, 2023.

• Villa, Angelica. 2023. “Network of Private Art Schools Abruptly Closes, Leaving 1,700 Students Affected.” ARTnews, September 26, 2023.

Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA)

• Anderson, John James. “The White House Art Collection Is Still Very White. Loans Could Help.” DCist, September 27, 2023.

• Aton, Francesca. “German Museum Faces Right-Wing Backlash for Creating Visiting Hours for Non-White Attendees.” ARTnews, September 15, 2023. 

• Barlow, Rich. “Proposed LGBTQ+ Library in Boston Would Be a First.” Boston University, September 19, 2023. 

• Bloom, Matt. “Former Weld County Librarian Wins Settlement after District Fired Her for Promoting LGBTQ, Anti-Racism Programs.” Colorado Public Radio, September 22, 2023. 

• Cassady, Daniel. “Man Vandalizes Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum, Charged With Hate Crime.” ARTnews, September 20, 2023.

• Truth and Reconciliation Day: September 30, Government of Canada. 

• Hunt, Douglas. “Book-Wrapping Events to Remember Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit People.” The Brock News, September 22, 2023. 

• Manwiller, Katelyn Quirin, Amelia Anderson, Heather Crozier, and Samantha Peter. “Hidden Barriers: The Experience of Academic Librarians and Archivists with Invisible Illnesses and/or Disabilities,” August 31, 2023. 

• McNeill, Zane. “Librarians Sue Anti-LGBTQ Library Board After Being Fired for Displaying Rainbow Autism Symbol.” Truthout, September 15, 2023. 

• Peet, Lisa. “LJ Talks to ALA President Emily Drabinski.” Library Journal, September 21, 2023.

• Rosas, Adrian Vincent. “Gala Pride and Diversity Center Opens LGBTQ-plus Focused Library to the Public.” New Times San Luis Obispo, August 24, 2023.
  
  

Intellectual Freedom/Access to Information

• Aton, Francesca. “Reina Sofía Museum Lifts 30-Year Photo Ban on Picasso’s Guernica." ARTnews, September 12, 2023.

• Barron, James. “How Libraries Are Fighting Book Banning.” The New York Times, September 28, 2023.

• Hernandez, Cindy. “Library bomb threats prompt closings citywide, special police attention." Chicago Sun-Times, September 14, 2023.

• Franklin, Jonathan. “New California Law Bars Schoolbook Bans Based on Racial and LGBTQ Topics.” NPR, September 26, 2023.

• Garcia, Raymond. “American Library Association Releases Preliminary Data on 2023 Book Challenges.” ALA News and Press Center, September 19, 2023.

• Nayyar, Rhea. “New Grant Supports Artists Addressing Censorship and Autonomy.” Hyperallergic, September 19, 2023.

• Paul, Andrew. “School District Uses ChatGPT to Help Ban Library Books.” Popular Science, August 14, 2023.

• Pontone, Maya. “Incarcerated Artists and Authors Shed Light on Prison Censorship.” Hyperallergic, September 20, 2023.

Technology

• Dawson, Aimee. “Pulling at loose Threads: should the art world sign up to the latest social media app?” The Art Newspaper, September 8, 2023.

• Eber, Anneliese. “Fossils in a Digital Age.” Pathfinder, September 2023. 

• Fung, Brian. “Supreme Court will look at new state laws that attempt to control social media content.” CNN, September 29, 2023.

• Lewis, Haley. “Librarians create educational tool for accessing residential school survivor stories.” Global News, September 27, 2023.

• Paradis, Danielle. “Probing the past: Residential school secrets and archival challenges.” APTN, September 30, 2023.

• Solomon, Howard. “Google is covered by Canada’s privacy law, Federal Court of Appeal rules.” IT World Canada, September 30, 2023.

• Tanaka, Candie. “Virtual Reality in Libraries.” Pathfinder, September 2023. 

Workplace

• "ALA condemns threats of violence to Chicago-area libraries." ALA News, September 14, 2023.

• Cassady, Daniel. “Art Institute of Chicago Union Finalizes First Contract, Secures ‘Across the Board’ Wage Increases.” ARTnews,, 27 Sept. 2023.

• Gibson, Victoria, and Omar Mosleh. "Everything, to everyone, all at once: How libraries ended up on the front line of Toronto’s urban crisis." Toronto Star, September 9, 2023.

• Phillips, Kim. "Bradford library strike escalates as tensions erupt in council meeting." CTV News, September 21, 2023.

• Solomon, Tessa. “Florida Museum Fires Curator After Show of Greek Artifacts Comes Under Scrutiny.” ARTnews, 22 Sept. 2023.

Miscellaneous

• Fumano, Dan. “A Year after Vancouver Public Library Eliminated Fines, Here’s How Many Books Are Now Overdue.” Vancouver Sun, September 5, 2023. 

• Guy, Jack. "Pokémon teams up with Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam." CNN, September 28, 2023.

• Zerkel, Eric, Mary Gilbert, and Aya Elamroussi. "Record rain in New York City generates ‘life-threatening’ flooding, overwhelming streets and subways." CNN, September 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.