MAGGIE RYAN, HOST: The State Library Board is proposing a new set of rules aimed at restricting certain content in libraries. Tess Vrbin from the Arkansas Advocate has been following the story and is here to talk about it. Hi Tess.
TESS VRBIN: Hi. Thanks for having me.
RYAN: Okay, so what is this rule? And tell us about what it means.
VRBIN: One of the biggest parts of this set of rules is that it would require libraries in order to receive state funding they'd have to segregate certain books that are considered sexually explicit and make sure that anyone under sixteen can't check them out. They define sexually explicit as depicting or describing various sexual contact and behaviors, um, or containing descriptions or images of human genitalia. Libraries would have to put those in a section where only people eighteen and older can access them. There's an exception in there for kids as young as eleven to access content about the “sociology of puberty,” That's a phrase right out of the rules. They'd have to get parental consent for that. And yeah, that is the part of the rules that's getting the most attention. There's more in there about library leadership and training and things like that.
RYAN: So whenever we're thinking about the definition of these sexually explicit materials, how are librarians supposed to determine that? Can you explain that a little more?
VRBIN: Library directors are saying that logistically, this would be really difficult to basically rearrange their shelves based on the content of books to make sure that, for example, a kid under sixteen can't go anywhere near a steamy romance novel aimed at adults because they tend to be sexual scenes in those books, and some libraries only have one room, it would be difficult to, according to librarians, police the ages of everybody who is in the library. And they already have a lot of responsibilities as librarians.
RYAN: So what happens? What are the consequences if this rule passes and librarians or libraries don't comply?
VRBIN: That is not super clear. The rules don't actually specify how they'd be enforced. And I asked the Department of Education about that. They really didn't give me much of an answer. So like I said, library directors are not thrilled with this proposal. They also took issue with a suggestion from the board that they change the software that lets people check out books and put an age restriction on them somehow. So if you're a cardholder under sixteen, there are certain titles that it just won't let you check out, But not all software has the capacity to do that. That was something that they said might be a problem.
RYAN: Okay. And so this has passed the State Library Board, which has a lot of new members is that right?
VRBIN: Okay. So it's a seven member board. Currently only six seats are filled, but they were all appointed by Governor Sanders. The board was overhauled by a state law last year, because there was some frustration from people in the legislature that the library board would not withhold funding from libraries that had certain books they considered sexually explicit available. There had been pushback from librarians, for reasons already mentioned, and members of the library board in its previous iteration were not okay with that proposal. There was a member of the previous board, a former state Senator Jason Rapert, who was a big advocate for withholding state funds that way. And when a majority of the board wouldn't do that, he was calling for the board to just be dissolved entirely. There was a bill in the legislature last year that would have done that, but it didn't pass. And then the law to just reconstitute the board did pass.
RYAN: Is this kind of a manifestation of what Republican lawmakers have been trying to do over the past few years, just through a different avenue?
VRBIN: It definitely hits some of the same notes. There has been a lot of push from conservative voices to make sure that kids can't access certain books they consider inappropriate. And inappropriate doesn't always mean containing scenes of sexual activity to them. In some areas, folks have said that kids shouldn't access books that depict systemic racism or any LGBTQ+ characters or topics. The carve out in these proposed rules for content about the sociology of puberty seems to be related to sex education. At the same time, some sex education books have diagrams of the human body in it, and that seems to contradict, it seems that it would be outlawed by the prohibition on such diagrams in these rules. So it's kind of a range of things that are under the inappropriate or sexually explicit catch all phrases that you hear from some appointed or elected officials. And it's been going on the past few years, like you said. And it seems that the goal that, that people put forth is, well, then some libraries just shouldn't get funding if they don't comply with these, these restrictions on content. And that can happen on the state level with the board withholding funding if they've determined that a library hasn't followed those rules closely enough, or sometimes on the local level, they put forth ballot measures and let the people decide.
RYAN: Okay, so what are librarians and library directors saying about these proposed changes?
VRBIN: Well, on the one hand, it wouldn't be very logistically doable for the libraries themselves in terms of the space. They also say that it would be censorship to keep certain content away from people based on their age, or based on any other reason. They say that's against the First Amendment.
RYAN: So we should also note these rules aren't final, and they're still accepting public comment via the Department of Education website. Right?
VRBIN: Yes. You can comment online or in person on June 12 at the Department of Education building.
RYAN: Okay. And the final deadline for public comment is June 15. I also want to ask about what's happening in Saline County. So they've put forward a ballot measure for its residents to decide whether or not to cut about one third of the budget for their library system. Can you say a little bit more about your reporting there?
VRBIN: Yes. Saline County is one of those areas, like I mentioned before, where there has been pushback about the availability of any books at all about sex education, systemic racism, or LGBTQ people. Three years ago, there were a lot of people coming to the quorum court meetings saying those books should not be on the shelves and calling for the library director to be fired. And she was eventually fired because the quorum court gave the county judge the power to do that. The former director sued over it, and that case will go to trial later this year. That is slightly off topic, but not quite, because, as you said, there is now going to be a measure on the ballot in Saline County in November to cut about a third of the library budget. That third would be $1.4 million. That's a lot. It's a three branch system. The third branch is pretty new actually, and we haven't really been hearing a lot about the content of libraries this time, instead, people who support the ballot measure are saying the library just gets too much money, or that it'll be fine without a third of its operating budget. Folks who support the library say otherwise. They say just because a library has reserves doesn't mean that it will survive that much of a budget cut. They say the library has been financially responsible and that this is really just a completely unnecessary measure.
RYAN: Okay Tess, my last question for you is you've been reporting on libraries and art in Arkansas for a while now. What's changed over the past few years? Have you noticed anything significant?
VRBIN: In Saline County they're not the only local library debate that has kind of changed its rhetoric from the content on the shelves to how much money the library even gets. We've seen this in a few other counties. We've seen a few other ballot measures to try to cut library funding. We actually saw a successful measure in 2022 in Craighead County. The folks who were pushing for that ultimately successful measure that cut half the library's funding had started out by saying, oh, you shouldn't have books on the shelves about LGBTQ people. There was a pride display at one of their libraries, and, and people got upset about it. That, and there was a transgender author invited to the library for a presentation. So you saw the same people who were upset about that pushing for library defunding. It seems in the past few years, folks have started to take a different approach because they realized that their first approach wasn't quite working on the state level with the, the library board getting reconstituted, the efforts to withhold funding from libraries based on content just didn't work. So it seems like they are taking an approach they think will be more successful because it's less content focused.
RYAN: Okay. That's Tess Vrbin from The Arkansas Advocate. You can find more of her reporting online at arkansasadvocate.com.
