Indiana Library Federation Troubled By Lawmaker’s Assertion That Harmful Library Language May Be Revived In Conference Committee

The Indiana Library Federation is concerned by reporting that language from Senate Bill 12, Material Harmful to Minors, may find its way into another bill via conference committee, namely HB1447, Education Matters. HB1447 has been scheduled for conference committee on Monday, April 24th at 9:00am.

ILF supports local challenge processes in both school and public libraries to create transparency for the community and for parents. ILF supports publicly-available policies by which a parent or guardian may submit a complaint about a book in a school or library’s possession.

ILF does not support language that would remove the educational and scope-of-employment defenses in current code, which would allow for criminal prosecution of librarians without affirmative defenses. 

Jailing and criminally prosecuting librarians with no defense is an extreme response and is not balanced policy. At minimum, all Hoosiers deserve a right to First-Amendment-based defenses, which include literary, political, and artistic defenses. A defense for scientific material is already in code.

ILF is committed to protecting all Hoosiers’ constitutional freedom to read. Libraries provide all sorts of information on a range of topics for everyone. Local challenge processes allow people the chance to make their voices and concerns heard in their communities. Libraries should be able to make diverse materials available for everyone without government interference. ILF strongly desires to work toward policy alternatives that protect our youth, preserve the First Amendment, and safeguard librarians from frivolous criminal prosecution.