BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – The North Dakota legislature has been in the national spotlight in recent weeks after the passage of two bills that look to restrict sexually explicit content in the state’s public libraries. Even though the bills passed by wide margins, libraries and their patrons across North Dakota are rallying to try and defeat the legislation in the second half of the session.
House Bill 1205 would prohibit the state’s public libraries from “maintaining explicit sexual material.” It passed the House on a vote of 65-28. Senate Bill 2360 prohibits the display of sexually explicit material in places where minors are allowed. It imposes possible jail time and fines for librarians or others who might violate the law. SB 2360 passed 38-9. Both bills have now crossed over to the other chamber for consideration.
Bismarck Public Library Director Christine Kujawa said the “nebulous and subjective” nature of the bills is very concerning.
“It would require us to go through our entire collection, which is over 250,000 items – not to mention the digital titles, which are covered in the Senate bill – and we add 20,000 new items every year. It’s not just the children’s library, the way it’s written. It’s the entire library, everything in our collection, and we would have to check every item for what they say might be considered obscene, and how would we even know how to define that? And then we’re supposed to get rid of that material, which we’ve already paid for using taxpayer funding,” Kujawa said.
Tim Dirks has been the director of the Fargo Public Library for 15 years. He said the bills are likely the result of failed local efforts to ban specific books.
“We see this as something that’s really terrible for not only libraries and library workers, but also for the communities which they serve. The potential damage that it will do to our ability, our First Amendment duties as librarians, to provide the broadest view of our society as possible. Is everyone going to agree with every possible view? No, but it’s there – if you want to learn it, if you want to understand it, that’s why we exist,” Dirks said.
Dirks said the language of the bills is too broad.
“There was testimony in support of the bill at the hearing where a woman said, ‘I already have a list of over 200 books that I want to have removed from the library’ and, you know, that’s the chilling part – where you have this overly broad language and an individual of one worldview wants to remove the books of another worldview,” he said. “Where does it stop?”
Kujawa says patrons of the Bismarck library have organized a silent “read-in” protest on Thursday in opposition to the bills.
“They did it just as a way to show they are in solidarity together as our community and as our patrons and that they oppose censorship and are for the freedom to read as well as the freedom of choice – which is not up to our state government. It’s up to our citizens,” she said.
A similar “Bans Off My Books” protest is scheduled for Saturday afternoon at the Minot Public Library.
