Some of my earliest memories are of hours I spent in our city’s public library: the sense of wonder, of the whole world opening up in this place.
I spent little of that time in the children’s section; I was all over the general stacks, looking up books on many subjects. (In my earliest memories of the place, dinosaur books were a favorite.) Nowadays, I generally visit our local library every week or two and, in between, I use their many online services.
I can’t say with certainty, but I do have to wonder whether many of the Idaho legislators so busily attacking the state’s public libraries have set foot in one for years. If they have any real knowledge or appreciation for libraries, there’s little indication of it in the just-ended legislative session.
Maybe Gov. Brad Little has. He has been sparing with vetoes this session — too sparing — but he did apply one to House Bill 314, the ill-named “school and library protection act.” His veto stuck, with the failure of an override attempt by a single vote.
Here’s what it would have prohibited in libraries: “Any picture, photograph, drawing, sculpture, motion picture film, or similar visual representation or image of a person or portion of the human body that depicts nudity, sexual conduct, or sado-masochistic abuse and that is harmful to minors; (b) Any book, pamphlet, magazine, printed matter however reproduced, or sound recording that contains any matter pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subsection or explicit and detailed verbal descriptions or narrative accounts of sexual excitement, sexual conduct, or sado-masochistic abuse and that, taken as a whole, is harmful to minors; or (c) Any other material harmful to minors.”
Well, that’s a model of clarity, isn’t it? As many have remarked, one of the first books to be banned from public libraries, under the terms of this law, would be the Bible.
Personally, I can say I’ve never seen something on the shelves that would present any harm to children. Librarians, like many other professionals, operate according to professional standards, and the kinds of materials you see in one library is not radically different from those you see in another. But then, almost anyone can find something to object to in the many items in our libraries. Something that wouldn’t draw your attention might get a shake of the head from me. We’re talking about purely subjective standards.
It got worse. Anyone — a “minor, parent or legal guardian” — can sue over any of the thousands of items on the shelves. Anyone can sue, and while a standard “damage” of $2,500 is provided for, the new law also allows for “actual damages and any other relief available by law, including but not limited to injunctive relief sufficient to prevent the defendant school or public library from violating the requirements of this section.” So exactly what ceiling on financial risk are libraries facing here?
Chris Sokol, the library director in Latah County, said the libraries there might have to close for some weeks if the bill passed to figure out how to deal with it, and added, “We’ve never been confronted with anything like this before. I’ve worked in libraries for decades, and this totally turns everything on its head.”
At the least, as Little said: “Allowing any parent, regardless of intention, to collect $2,500 in automatic fines creates a library bounty system that will only increase the costs local libraries incur, particularly rural libraries. These costs will be forced onto property taxpayers of Idaho or cause libraries to close to minors altogether.”
A bill intended to slap prison time on librarians seems not to have succeeded this session either, but maybe it will next year. And so might a new version of the library bounty bill: An earlier version of it was tried (and failed) last year. Some measures pass on their second or third or fourth try.
Libraries in Idaho survived this year’s Legislature, barely. The bigger-picture message still is that, to doctors and teachers, add librarians to the list of Idaho professionals who have strong reason to question why they’re working where they are.
Stapilus is a former Idaho newspaper reporter and editor and blogs at www. ridenbaugh.com. His email address is stapilus@ridenbaugh.com.
