Pornographic book challenges involving children and teens brought against public libraries are more about censoring minority voices, according to a state library leader who opposes the implementation of a certification discerning between age-appropriate and non-age-appropriate books.
Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft proposed the administrative rule last year.
“A book serves as a window if it helps you understand someone who is different from you,” said Otter Bownman, president of the Missouri Library Association (MLA). “Cutting off access to books that validate the life experiences of our most vulnerable puts those kids at risk of self-harm and increases the likelihood that they will become victims of bullying and societal neglect.”
Bowman was responding to state Rep. Mazzie Boyd (R-Hamilton)'s proposal last week that would create punitive damages for Missouri’s local public libraries and their employees for violating Ashcroft’s proposed rule, according to media reports.
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, Ashcroft’s proposed administrative rule would also prohibit state libraries from sponsoring, promoting, or spending money on drag queen story hours while Ashcroft is in office.
“Libraries firmly believe that parents have every right to protect their children as they see fit, and they are free to place limits on what their own children can read but it is not okay to restrict anyone else’s access,” Bowman told the St. Louis Record.
Bowman also argues that libraries statewide already comply with Missouri's law on pornography.
"HB 1159 makes providing the wrong materials a fineable offense, and it politicizes what we are allowed to have in our collections," he said. “Seventy-one percent of voters oppose efforts to remove books from public libraries because they understand that libraries are for everyone, and not everyone has the same view of what is appropriate for their family."
During the public comment period for Secretary Ashcroft’s proposal, an estimated 20,000 public comments were filed.
"The vast majority of those comments opposed the rule," Bowman said. "Missourians don’t approve of censorship."
Bowman alleged that five of America’s top ten most challenged books in 2022 had LGBTQ themes, and four of the remaining five were written by Black, Hispanic, or Native American authors.
“Children and teens who are already marginalized are at the most risk,” he said. “It takes a tremendous amount of staff time to respond to and to anticipate book challenges, and this takes away from the more essential things that librarians do for their communities, like coordinating free tax help, teaching computer skills, and championing early literacy.”
Ashcroft's rule is currently pending before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules but Rep. Alex Riley (R-Springfield), who chairs the committee, has not announced yet whether a hearing will be scheduled.
HB 1159 has yet to be scheduled for a hearing as well and is not on the House calendar.
"If approved, library workers will try their best to provide materials for their diverse communities, while simultaneously living with the fear of prosecution for simply doing their jobs," Bowman added. "Small rural libraries will be affected the most by this bill, as they depend on state funding to make ends meet, but patrons all over the state will feel the effects of staff overwhelm as librarians have to spend more time justifying the items in their collections against charges brought forth by people who are not even required to have a relationship to the community in which they are filing a challenge."