Librarians are worried about the “chilling effect” on speech and reading if Alabama lawmakers follow through and pass a bill that would police librarians if they don’t remove supposedly “obscene” books in schools and public libraries.
The Alabama House has passed HB385, which overrides local libraries’ book challenge policies and gives librarians seven days to remove material – or potentially face criminal charges and a fine. The bill now heads to the Senate.
“This bill is government overreach, robs parents of their rights, and would have a chilling effect on free speech by potentially incarcerating librarians because particular books are available, including even the Bible,” Gadsden Public Library director Craig Scott said in a statement from the Alabama Library Association.
Scott told AL.com that legislators don’t understand how libraries work. Librarians already have policies to allow people to challenge books, he said. Librarians evaluate books regularly, and if they are provocative or risque, they have procedures in place to catalog them properly.
“We don’t have smut and porn and purely obscene material,” Scott said. He’s been a librarian since 1977 and said he never expected librarians to be targeted for doing their jobs.
“We are professionals,” Scott said.
Alyx Kim-Yohn, circulation manager at Huntsville-Madison Public Library, said circumventing library reconsideration policies is “nothing short of utter erasure” of people and content who don’t fit a narrow standard.
“The writing on the wall couldn’t be clearer regarding the chilling effect this law would have on statewide employment, public library and school funding, public education outcomes, quality of life, First Amendment rights, and countless other metrics,” Kim-Yohn said. “As far as I’m concerned, the only good version of HB385 is a dead one.”
Claims of “inappropriate” books for children have gained attention over the last year in Alabama and elsewhere, as the majority of challenged books are primarily by and about the LGBTQ community and other marginalized groups like people of color.
The proposed Alabama law would allow people who object to file a complaint with the school or public library, and the district attorney. The librarian, according to the bill, has seven days to “remove” the book or face criminal penalties.
Scott said the Republican lawmakers who supported the bill want more government interference.
“If this bill is successful on the Senate side and becomes law, you can bet the lawsuits will be coming,” Scott said. “So what do they want? They want to spend more money?”
The bill outlines a first failure to remove material after receiving “valid notice” as a Class C misdemeanor, a second violation as a Class B, and subsequent violations as Class A. According to Alabama Code Section 13, if convicted of giving obscene books to children, librarians could face three months to a year in prison and a fine of $500 to $6000.
Using an old law that targets adult video stories, lawmakers also expanded the definitions of obscene to ban: “Any sexual or gender oriented conduct that knowingly exposes minors to persons who are dressed in sexually revealing, exaggerated, or provocative clothing or costumes, or are stripping, or engaged in lewd or lascivious dancing, presentations, or activities in K-12 public schools or public libraries where minors are expected and known to be present without parental presence or consent.”
“They are clearly going after transgender citizens and drag performers, but they don’t want to say it out loud,” said Susan Stewart, an organizer with the Madison County Chapter of anti-censorship group Read Freely Alabama.
Emily Jones with the Madison County chapter of Moms For Liberty said she’s glad to see this legislation moving forward. The organization asked legislators this year to “withhold funds for libraries that allow children to check out ‘pornographic’ materials.”
“After months of reviewing content throughout libraries across the state it is clear we needed strong parameters to prohibit children from viewing obscene materials without parental knowledge,” Jones said.
Foley resident Stephanie Williams, who supports taking inappropriate books out of the children’s section, said there’s no need for “hair on fire” reactions.
“I believe strongly in the equitable treatment of offenders under the law,” Williams said. “I do not believe certain classes of persons should be exempt from prosecution because they have a better lobby.” She said there’s a notice period and that speculation on the legislation’s impact is too soon.
Read Freely Alabama said the focus on gender orientation will criminalize non-explicit books, too.
“This attempted conflation of LGBTQ-affirming books with obscene material must be the focus of any honest conversation about this blatant government overreach and violation of Alabamians’ rights,” the group said.
The Senate has four more legislative days to consider the bill before the end of the session.
