Arkansas: “Crawford County Libraries Return Segregated LGBTQ+ Books to Original Sections After Judge’s Order”
From the Arkansas Advocate:
The Crawford County Library began moving certain materials, mostly with LGBTQ+ themes, out of segregated “social sections” and into their original sections at each of the five branches Tuesday morning, in compliance with a federal court order, library system director Charlene McDonnough said.
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On Monday, U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III ordered the defendants to move the materials in the social sections to “appropriate sections in general circulation without consideration of whether they approve or agree with the viewpoints expressed in such materials, and without consideration of whether the viewpoints expressed in such materials are unpopular or controversial.”
Holmes’ ruling agreed with the plaintiffs that the social sections were based on discrimination against “books containing viewpoints that are unpopular or controversial in Crawford County,” violating the First Amendment.
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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