KUAR | By Daniel Breen
Across the country, libraries are becoming flash-points of conflict. Conservative advocacy groups, like Moms for Liberty, are clashing with librarians over restricting so-called controversial materials.
Arkansas is no exception, with high-profile fights cropping up in towns big and small.
Our panelists tackle the uncertainties surrounding book bans on Issues That Matter: Readers' Rights: A First
KUAR | By Josie Lenora
A bill to regulate libraries passed a final vote in the Arkansas House of Representatives Wednesday.
Senate Bill 81 will create an identical book challenge policy for all libraries which can be appealed up to city and county government entities. The bill would criminalize librarians who furnish books deemed to be obscene.
Rep. Justin Gonzales, R-Okolona, presented the bill. He said the criticisms he had gotten on the bill were based on misunderstandings.
Sarah Kellogg/KUAR News
Senate Bill 81, a bill to regulate libraries in Arkansas, moved through its final legislative hurdle Wednesday.
KUAR | By Tess Vrbin / Arkansas Advocate
A proposed Arkansas law that would open the door to criminal liability for the distribution of “obscene” content by school and public libraries passed a legislative panel and will go to the House floor after being amended.
Senate Bill 81 would add the loaning of library materials to the statute governing the possession and distribution of obscene material. Arkansas’ definition of obscenity is “that to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to prurient interest,” with prurient meaning overtly sexual.
The bill would remove schools and public libraries from the part of Arkansas law that exempts them from prosecution “for disseminating a writing, film, slide, drawing, or other visual reproduction that is claimed to be obscene.”
Arkansas Legislature
The House Judiciary Committee discusses Senate Bill 81 on March 9, 2023.