With the North Dakota Legislative Assembly in session, lawmakers in Bismarck have been discussing a wide range of topics. A controversial topic that has been floated is the restriction of certain library materials.
Two such bills are HB 1205 and SB 2360. Both bills mainly focus on prohibiting materials lawmakers see as “obscene” from all public libraries. SB 2360 passed both chambers and is waiting for the governor's signature. HB 1205 was signed by Gov. Doug Burgum in March.
“This bill attempts to discontinue having public libraries maintain—or promoting certain books that contain explicit sexual material,” House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, said during testimony on HB 1205.
Many who have opposed the bills say the legislation would infringe on First Amendment rights by limiting people’s right to choose what they read. Other parties that oppose the bills, such as the North Dakota Librarian Association, see the legislation as an attempt to censor the lives of those in the LGBTQIA+ community and People of Color.
“We stand opposed to censorship and any effort to coerce belief, suppress opinion, or punish those whose expression does not conform to what is deemed to be orthodox in history, politics, or belief,” NDLA said in a January statement.
Bismarck State College Director of Library Services Marlene Anderson is concerned about the bills going through the legislature. She says that the role of the library is to serve the community and book banning bills hamper the libraries ability to be a resource.
“People need all kinds of resources in order to learn what they want to learn, in order to have materials that support their research projects, for papers or speeches, or sometimes simply for their own curiosity,” Anderson said.
Anderson doesn’t believe any of the current legislation will affect BSC. Both SB 2360 and HB 1205 mainly focus on prohibiting materials for minors. While the BSC library is open for the community at large, the library primarily functions for students and faculty on campus.
Anderson is more concerned about the implications of these bills on public and school libraries, but believes increased oversight of material in college and university libraries could be a possibility in the future.
The BSC library has yet to receive any complaint about material in LEA Hall. Anderson says that she doesn’t anticipate current material being an issue in the future.
“Could there be any individual thing–a page, a word, a section, a poem that someone might not like? That’s certainly possible but I really don’t anticipate many concerns or challenges brought to us,” she said.
Anderson says another reason these bills are unnecessary is because libraries often already have policies to address potentially controversial material. The process involves the library working with the party filing the complaint to analyze material cover to cover.
This can lead to the book staying put, being moved to a different section of the library, the library restricting one specific child from checking out a book or the book being pulled. Anderson says that librarians do not force anyone to read anything, and she doesn’t feel comfortable having to make those choices for other people. Many other librarians share that sentiment.
“I think [legislators] need to focus on the things that really are problems, and I don't think people reading and having freedom of choice on what they want to read is a problem,” Anderson said.
For more information on these bills, and other bills throughout the session, visit www.ndlegis.gov.
(Find on Page 4 of Mystician 84.7)