Report: “Georgia Librarians Could Face Criminal Charges For ‘Harmful Materials'”
From the Georgia Recorder:
Librarians and education advocates are warning that a bill moving through the state Legislature could cause Georgia’s librarians to self-censor controversial materials and lead to more challenges on books about LGBTQ people or issues.
Senate Bill 74, sponsored by Sylvania Republican Sen. Max Burns, changes an exemption in state law dealing with the distribution of harmful materials to minors.
Today, the state exempts public and school or university libraries from the ban on distributing obscene media to people under 18. If Burns’ bill becomes law, one would only be exempt if they were not aware of the harmful material, had previously suggested the material be challenged as obscene or had suggested to have the materials moved to an area of the library not accessible to minors.
The bill passed a House subcommittee along party lines Tuesday and could be teed up for a vote from the full committee soon. A different version of the bill passed the Senate last year.
Read the Complete Article (about 750 words)
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
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