05-02-2025
James River Valley Library System lacks space to lock up materials appropriate for adults but not children
Feb. 5—JAMESTOWN — The James River Valley Library System lacks the space to lock up a large portion of its collection that may be appropriate for adults but not for children, according to Joe Rector, library system director.
"The question is: How much would it cost for our library system to comply with a law that requires a lot of materials to be restricted from children," Rector said, referring to Senate Bill 2307, which says a public library or school district may not maintain a book or any other medium that contains explicit sexual material in an area accessible to minors.
Rector said the James River Valley Library System has fiction, nonfiction and photography books as well as DVDs that are for adults and not intended as material for children.
"We have all these properly cataloged, but if libraries are suddenly required to relocate all this material out of the purview of children under 18, where would we put it," he said.
Rector said the library system had over 153,000 items — almost 80,000 being physical items — in its collection at the end of 2023. He said about 40,000 of those items are children's material.
He said putting adult materials in one of the two libraries that the library system operates would create a lot of frustration and confusion on where books are located. He said there is no way of knowing beforehand, unless it is looked up online, where materials would be located. He said a patron could come into Alfred Dickey Public Library and request a fiction book that may have themes inappropriate for children and a nonfiction religious book but only one might be available at the library.
The James River Valley Library System operates two libraries — Alfred Dickey Public Library and Stutsman County Library.
SB 2307 criminalizes a person who "willfully displays at newsstands or any other business establishment frequented by minors or where minors are or may be invited any material that either contains explicit sexual material that is harmful to minors or exploits, is devoted to or is principally made up of depictions of nude or partially denuded human figures posed or presented in a manner to exploit sex, lust or perversion for commercial gain."
SB 2307 would make it a Class B misdemeanor for librarians if sexually explicit material is accessible for minors. The bill also would put libraries or school districts in risk of losing funding for noncompliance.
Rector said librarians could be charged with a Class B misdemeanor for having a book in the library collection that is cataloged appropriately for the people in their community if others felt a child might have seen the questionable material.
"The librarian may be tempted to say, 'I'm not going to purchase this material because it's too controversial,'" he said. "That's a prior restraint upon the freedom of information within that public library, or as this bill includes public school systems as well."
SB 2307 defines explicit sexual material as "any material that appeals to the prurient interest of minors, is patently offensive under prevailing standards in the adult community regarding what is suitable for minors and lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors."
SB 2307 bill was introduced by Sens. Keith Boehm, R-Mandan; Robert Erbele, R-Lehr; David Hogue, R-Minot; and Kent Weston, R-Sarles.
Reps. Vickey Steiner, R-Dickinson, and Bill Tveit, R-Hazen, are carrying the legislation in the House.
No hearings have been scheduled on SB 2307 as of Tuesday morning, Feb. 4.
Boehm introduced the bill to prevent the sexualization of minors and said the 2023 bill was not effective, the North Dakota News Monitor reported. Boehm told the News Monitor that the material was moved from the children's section to the adult section.
The bill also creates an obscenity review procedure where any person may request an attorney general's opinion to review if material in a library or school district has explicit sexual material. The attorney general would need to issue an opinion on the alleged violation within 30 days to the interested person, provider of digital or online library database resources, school district, state agency or public library under review.
The attorney general would notify the state treasurer if a violation has occurred at a public library or state agency or the superintendent of public instruction if a violation has occurred at a school district. The state treasurer and superintendent of public instruction would not distribute funds to the school district, state agency or public library until the attorney general has determined either of the entities are in compliance with SB 2307.
Rector said the bill does not define when a librarian would be charged with a Class B misdemeanor during the attorney general review.
"Is the librarian already in jail when the funding is pulled," he said.
The Legislature passed House Bill 1205 during the legislative session in 2023. The bill removes or relocates "explicit sexual material" in public libraries' children's collections. The bill also mandated public libraries to come up with policies and procedures before 2024 for removing or relocating "explicit sexual material," handling requests to remove or relocate books, developing age-appropriate book collections, and periodically reviewing collections.
The primary book that bill proponents cited was "Let's Talk About It" because of its sexual topics and visual nudity in drawings. The book is not in the James River Valley Library System's collection.
The cost estimate was $54,500 for James River Valley Library System employees to review materials in the children and teenagers section for explicit sexual material, The Jamestown Sun reported in June 2024. It took an estimated 2,770 hours for 15 employees to review the materials. No materials were completely removed, but four books were relocated to a different spot within the library system.
During the review, staff members looked for anything sexual in the books, The Jamestown Sun reported in February 2024. For example, staff members would look for certain words such as "kissing" or "undressing" that might lead to sexual activity.
Rector said librarians weigh the views of their community and populate the library collection with materials that span the viewpoints within their community.
"That's where we can get in trouble and sometimes risk a Class B misdemeanor when people of good faith on either side of the political aisle may disagree as to what is appropriate for children," he said. "It acts as a prior restraint on a potential item being included in the library collection."
If a librarian is afraid of being charged with a Class B misdemeanor for having a particular book in the collection that is cataloged correctly but other people feel that a child might have seen, that individual might not purchase that material for the library because it's too controversial, Rector said.
"That's a prior restraint upon the freedom of information within that public library or as this bill includes ... public school systems as well," he said.
He said a public library looks at the needs of adults and children within its community. He said some adults want their children to have access to certain materials that other adults don't want their children to access.
"That's where we get into difficulties as a society," he said. "It's actually quite chilling for librarians who are trying to strike a proper balance to end up threatened with jail time If they make the wrong decision."
Rector said each parent has the right and responsibility to oversee what their children are utilizing at the library. He also said one parent might allow something for their children that another might not.
"This isn't a librarian's job to be able to filter through the different levels of parental belief," he said. "It's the job of the librarian to make sure that all viewpoints are fairly represented in the library and that those materials are cataloged appropriately with respect to the maturity level of the intended audience. Then it's up to the parents to supervise what their children are checking out."
