In North Dakota, the legislature has a bill in front of them that would ban libraries from keeping legislatively defined ‘sexually explicit’ books in their collections. In Florida, a law cut from the same cloth — defining what can be kept in school libraries — is further along. It’s passed and it’s being implemented, and school districts are now required to comply. Violation of the law is a felony of the 3rd degree. You can catch the full story on how one school district is reacting to the law from News 4 Jacksonville linked below.
Why does it matter in Minot? Laws replicate among the states at a remarkable rate, so if we’re seeing it somewhere else, we’re likely going to take a crack at making it a law here — especially when states are led by the same political party. It forces us to ask, who should be managing our library collections, librarians or legislators?
