Advocacy & Public Policy Committee News Alerts v.9 n. 12, December 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 

Special News Alert: Art World Responds to Israel/Palestine

Gaza News:

• Nayyar, Rhea. "Gaza Art Gallery Reportedly Destroyed by Israeli Airstrike." Hyperallergic, December 21, 2023

• Pontone, Maya. "Queer Cinema for Palestine Pushes Back Against Israel’s “Pinkwashing”." Hyperallergic, December 4, 2023.

• Velie, Elaine. "Banksy Hotel in Occupied West Bank Shutters." Hyperallergic, December 21, 2023.

Responses:

• Greenberger, Alex. “Nan Goldin ‘Refused’ to Release Documentary About Herself in Israel as Part of Cultural Boycott.” ARTnews, December 11, 2023.

• Martinez, Alexandra. “Activists Call for Ceasefire in Gaza During Protest Outside Art Basel Miami Beach.” ARTnews, December 9, 2023. 

• Nayyar, Rhea. "Protesters Demand Brooklyn Museum “Take a Stand Against Genocide." Hyperallergic, December 9, 2023.

• Pontone, Maya. “Citing Silencing of Arab Voices, Artists Cut Ties With Art Canada Institute.” Hyperallergic, December 7, 2023.

• Solomon, Tessa. “In Open Letter, Artists Accuse Western Museums of ‘Silencing and Stigmatizing’ Palestinian Voices.” ARTnews, December 1, 2023. 

• Solomon, Tessa. “The Year in Activism: Israel-Palestine Shatters Art World Consensus.” ARTnews, December 21, 2023. 

• Stromberg, Matt. “While Others Remain Silent, These Art Spaces Are Vocally Pro-Palestine.” Hyperallergic, December 1, 2023. 

• Velie, Elaine. "Hundreds Call Out Museums’ Role in Colonialism in March for Palestine." Hyperallergic, December 2, 2023

• Velie, Elaine. "Artists Display 20,000 Poppies Outside NY Stock Exchange." Hyperallergic, December 15, 2023.

Art & Activism

• Durón, Maximilíano. “Amazon Cuts Ties with Riverside’s Cheech Museum After Show with Work Critical of the Tech Company.” ARTnews, December 8, 2023.

• Greenberger, Alex. “Artist Edgar Calel Leads a New Wave of Institutional Critique.” ARTnews, December 1, 2023. 

• Mengüç, Murat Cem. “Activists Protest Deal That Protects Sackler Family.” Hyperallergic, December 5, 2023.

• Pontone, Maya. "Femicide Artwork “Censored” From Greek Consulate in New York." Hyperallergic, December 20, 2023.

• Wang, Xintian. “Ana Teresa Barboza’s Poignant Tapestries Reflect on the Powerful Forces of Nature Wrought by Climate Change.” ARTnews, December 28, 2023. 

• Watlington, Emily. “The Climate Crisis Demands That We Collaborate with Other Species. These Artists Are Showing Us How.” ARTnews, December 6, 2023.

Copyright & Licensing; Open Access

• Benedict, Connor. “On Openness & Copyright, EU AI Act Final Version Appears to Include Promising Changes.” Creative Commons, December 11, 2023. 

• Bruell, Alexandra. “New York Times Sues Microsoft and OpenAI, Alleging Copyright Infringement.” Wall Street Journal, December 27, 2023.

• Delouya, Samantha. “An Early Version of Disney’s Mickey Mouse Will Enter the Public Domain on January 1" CNN Business, December 30, 2023. 

• Grosvenor, Bendor. "Court of Appeal Ruling Will Prevent UK Museums from Charging Reproduction Fees—at Last,” The Art Newspaper, December 29, 2023. 

• Grynbaum, Michael M., and Ryan Mac. “The Times Sues OpenAI and Microsoft Over A.I. Use of Copyrighted Work.” The New York Times, December 27, 2023.

• Moreno, J. Edward. “Boom in A.I. Prompts a Test of Copyright Law.” The New York Times, December 30, 2023.

Funding

• Cameron, Alana. “Company’s grant helps library become more accessible.” Quinte News, December 13, 2023.

• Chowdhury, Nishat. “Edmonton city council green-lights expanding Heritage Valley library.” CBC News, December 10, 2023.

• Demillo, Andrew. "Arkansas Republican who wanted to suspend funds to libraries suing state confirmed to library board." AP News, December 15, 2023.

• Limbong, Andrew. "To fight so-called book bans, some states are threatening to withhold funding." National Public Radio, December 14, 2023.

• News Release, "Institute of Museum and Library Services Announces Agency's First Learning Agenda." IMLS, December 12, 2023.

• Seddon, Sean. "British Museum signs £50m funding deal with BP." BBC, December 19, 2023.

Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access (IDEA)

• Archie, Ayana. "The idea of a national African American museum went back 100 years before its opening." National Public Radio, December 20, 2023.

• Bieman, Jennifer and Beatriz Baleeiro. “In fallout of library 'cyber incident,' low-income Londoners hit hardest.” The London Free Press, December 14, 2023.

• “Project to identify Indigenous people in old photos makes its way to northern Ontario.” CBC News, December 12, 2023.

• Dalmer, Nicole, Bridget Marsdin, and Leora Sas Van Der Linden. “Analysis: Program at Hamilton Public Library shows how libraries can expand the social services they provide.” Brighter World: McMaster University, December 13, 2023.

• Fagan, Emily. “Cyber attack on Toronto Public Library leaves patrons reeling over loss of ‘social service network’.” Toronto Star, December 6, 2023.

• Omstead, Jordan. “Drag performer slur perpetuates myths, Ont. judge rules, defamation suit advances.” Toronto Star, December 31, 2023.

• Pontone, Maya. “Museums Increase Sensory Inclusivity for Visitors.” Hyperallergic, December 4, 2023. 

• “Teacher loses court case asking to finish presentation on books about gender identity.” Waterloo Chronicle. December 8, 2023.

• Wroe, Darlene. ‘"Terrible inequity" seen in library fee structure.’ Penticton Herald, December 20, 2023.

Intellectual Freedom/Access to Information

• Albanese, Andrew. "Congress Introduces New Bill to Fight Book Bans in Schools." Publishers Weekly, December 6, 2023.

• Childress, Greg. "Study: Parents trust librarians despite national push to ban books." NC Newsline, December 4, 2023.

• Empsman, Olivia. "Book bans use ‘parental rights’ as cover to attack civil liberties, Democrat warns." The Guardian, December 21, 2023.

• Freeman, Joshua. “Councillor calls on Toronto Public Library to cancel speaking invitation to controversial author.” CP24, December 4, 2023.

• “Toronto Public Library criticized for hosting author with 'antisemitic' views.” National Post, December 6, 2023.

• Prieur, Danielle. "Thousands of books were banned in Central Florida in 2023. Here's what to expect in 2024." NPR, December 26, 2023.

• Selley, Chris. “Chris Selley: You can't beat cancel culture with cancel culture.” National Post, December 7, 2023.

• O’Connor, Fiona, Barbara Sobol, and Wendy H. Wong. “Citizenship in the age of data: The critical role of libraries for digital literacy.” Toronto Star, December 30, 2023.

• Velie, Elaine. "Art Student Fights for Free Speech After School Asks to Remove Pro-Palestine Signs." Hyperallergic, December 11, 2023.

Technology

• Dufresne, Phillippe, and Dr. Ana Brian Nougrères. “Joint Statement on Privacy and Democratic Rights.” Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, December 8, 2023.

• Lupton, Andrew. “2 experts explain why libraries can become cybercrime targets.” CBC News, December 16, 2023.

• O’Brien, Matt. “2023: The year we played with artificial intelligence -- and weren't sure what to do about it.” CTV News, December 17, 2023.

• “Canadian privacy regulators launch principles for responsible development and use of generative AI.” Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, December 7, 2023.

• Ouellet, Valerie, Sylvène Gilchrist, and Shaki Sutharsan. “CBC News analysis finds thousands of Canadian authors, books in controversial dataset used to train AI.” CBC News, December 7, 2023.

• Rana, Arfa. “Cyberattack behind major system outage at London Public Library.” CBC News, December 14, 2023.

• Weikle, Brandie. “E-readers were supposed to kill printed books. Instead, they're booming.” CBC Radio, December 17, 2023.
  
  

Workplace

• Blake, Emily. “Hay River library removes seating over loitering concerns.” Cabin Radio, December 18, 2023.

• De Bono, Norman. “When it rains, it pours at London Public Library: Cyberattack, now leaky roof.” The London Free Press, December 29, 2023.

• Lauter, Devorah. “Striking Workers at the Centre Pompidou March to France’s Culture Ministry to Demand Job Security.” ARTnews, December 9, 2023.

• Owen, Michael. “Bradford library workers still without collective agreement.” Bradford Today, December 19, 2023.

• Pritchard, Brad. “‘Difficult situation’: Concerns raised over Alliston library’s increased use as warming centre.” Alliston Herald, December 8, 2023.

• Zajac, Ronald. “Combine the library and museum? Councillor thinks it's worth a debate.” Standard-Freeholder, December 4, 2023.

Miscellaneous

• Aton, Francesca. “Previously Unseen Painting Technique Was Used by Rembrandt in ‘The Night Watch,’ New Study Reveals.” ARTnews, December 18, 2023. 

• Ho, Karen K. “Independent Review Urges British Museum to Tighten Security and Collection Records.” ARTnews, December 12, 2023.

• Pontone, Maya. "Displaced by War, Sudanese Artists Fight to Keep Making Work." Hyperallergic, December 11, 2023.

• Velie, Elaine. "New Banksy Anti-War Piece Stolen in Broad Daylight." Hyperallergic, December 22, 2023.

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