Report: “Vendors, School Librarians and State Agencies Await Decision on Texas House Bill 900”

From the Austin American-Statesman:

A U.S. district judge heard arguments Monday from lawyers for several Texas book sellers — including Austin’s BookPeople and Houston-based Blue Willow Bookshop — who have asked for a legal pause to House Bill 900, a new law that limits books with sexual content in school libraries.

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The law mandates that vendors selling library materials to school districts create a system for rating books that are “sexually relevant” or “sexually explicit.” Districts will be prohibited from buying books from vendors that don’t follow the ratings. The law bans sexually explicit materials from school libraries and requires a parent’s note before a student may check out sexually relevant materials.

The law distinguishes between the two terms — sexually relevant or explicit — largely based on what is “patently offensive,” but librarians have argued that this definition is too open to interpretation.

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Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Libraries, News, School Libraries