Kelly is a former librarian and a long-time blogger at STACKED. She’s the editor/author of (DON’T) CALL ME CRAZY: 33 VOICES START THE CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH and the editor/author of HERE WE ARE: FEMINISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. Her next book, BODY TALK, will publish in Fall 2020. Follow her on Instagram @heykellyjensen.
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Following on the heels of a lawsuit helmed by several publishers against the state of Florida for their book banning laws, today, Penguin Random House, alongside Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster, and Sourcebooks have filed a lawsuit against Idaho’s House Bill 710. In addition to the slate of publisher plaintiffs, several others have joined in the complaint, including the Authors Guild; bestselling authors Malinda Lo, David Levithan, and Dashka Slater; the Donnelly Public Library District; a teacher; two students; and two parents.
The lawsuit specifically targets the book removal provisions of HB 710.
Idaho’s HB 710 allows parents or guardians to lodge complaints against materials they deem inappropriate for minors. Once a complaint has been filed, public and school libraries have 60 days to relocate the material to a section that is only accessible to adults. If they do not comply, those parents or guardians can receive $250 in statutory damages from the library in question, alongside other financial relief for damages.
News about the realities of HB 710 first hit last summer, as Donnelley Public Library announced that they might need to make their entire facility adults only, as they are too small a space to accommodate potential challenges per the law. Residents in and beyond Idaho began to discover that spaces where once they could roam freely were changing; Idaho Falls Public Library, for example, installed new signage indicating that certain areas of the library would be inaccessible for anyone under 18 unless they were accompanied by–and had explicit permission from–a parent or guardian.
“Libraries should be for everyone. We foster learning, provide resources, inspire creativity, and support our patrons,” said Sherry Scheline, Director, Donnelly Public Library, in a press release about the lawsuit in which her library is a plaintiff. “As a result of HB 710, our programming—which includes the only option for after-school care in Donnelly—has been severely impacted, with children unable to step inside the building to use the bathroom or keep warm without a complex waiver. Our circulation has also declined significantly. In essence, it has become impossible to fulfill our purpose of serving the Donnelly community.”
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Last month, the Community Library Network in Kootenai County began to make changes to their libraries, including creating an adults-only room in one of their branch libraries,