Editor's Note: The Week in Libraries column will be taking a short summer hiatus for the remainder of August, and will return after Labor Day, with the September 6 issue of Preview for Librarians. The Preview for Librarians newsletter will be delivered as scheduled, except for no issue on August 30, the friday before the holiday weekend.
In a mixed decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has vacated a December 2023 injunction blocking parts of Iowa's controversial book banning law, SF 496. But that could only be a temporary setback, with the more important news being that the court rejected the state's core argument that the removal of books from public school libraries constitutes government speech and thus does not require viewpoint-neutrality.
"Contrary to Defendants' contention, the Supreme Court has not extended the government speech doctrine to the placement and removal of books in public school libraries," the court held, adding that "it is doubtful that the public would view the placement and removal of books in public school libraries" as the government speaking. The court continued, "Take routine examples of historic tomes on political science. A well-appointed school library could include copies of Plato’s The Republic, Machiavelli’s The Prince, Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels’ Das Kapital, Adolph Hitler’s Mein Kampf, and Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America. As Plaintiffs noted, if placing these books on the shelf of public school libraries constitutes government speech, the State 'is babbling prodigiously and incoherently.'"
The decision comes after a rough 30-minute hearing in June during which the court expressed strong concerns over the appropriateness of the plaintiffs' "facial challenge" to the law—a legal term that applies to a claim that a government policy is unconstitutional as written. And indeed, the court vacated the injunction and remanded the case back to the district, finding that the district court "did not perform the necessary inquiry" required by law. But the parties can move quickly to seek another injunction, and with the state's key argument knocked out, it seems likely the plaintiffs are in a good position to prevail.
"We are pleased that the 8th Circuit rejected the government speech doctrine, the centerpiece of Iowa's defense of the book ban law," a rep for plaintiff Penguin Random House, told PW. "We look forward to demonstrating the unconstitutional sweep of this extraordinarily broad statute."
Signed by Iowa governor Kim Reynolds in May 2023, SF 496 bans books with depictions of sex, written or visual, from school libraries, and prohibits instruction and materials involving "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" for students through sixth grade. In response, various Iowa school districts have reportedly already pulled hundreds of titles from their shelves—more than 3,400, according to one study by the Des Moines Register—including a disproportionate number of books that contain LGBTQ characters, historical figures, or themes.
In his emphatic 49-page opinion and order issued on December 29, federal judge Stephen Locher blocked portions of the controversial law, citing the improper removal "of hundreds of books from school libraries."
Via the Salt Lake Tribune, the Utah state school board on Friday ordered the removal of 13 book titles from every public school in the state, in accordance with a new law passed earlier this year. "Six of the 13 titles were written by the same fantasy romance author, Sarah J. Maas," the report notes. "Districts and charter schools must now dispose of the following titles, according to the Utah State Board of Education, marking a historical first for the state."
Meanwhile, ABC-10 in California reports that a bill being considered by the state legislature before the session ends on August 31 would effectively outlaw book review committees and other policies that limit access to materials at public libraries. It would affect efforts to form a committee in Fresno County that could decide whether to move material with "sexual references" and "gender-identity content" to a restricted area where it could only be checked out with a parent’s permission.
In Texas, local affiliate KIII3 reports that a Corpus Christi Library Board subcommittee formed to advise the library on its book selection policy has been dissolved after deadlocking over potential changes to library policy. "The debate over the appropriateness of certain DEI materials in the young adult section of the libraries comes to an end has lasted several months," the outlet reports.
NBC-10 in Boston reports that a library worker in Worcester, Massachusetts, was attacked with a skateboard, prompting the closure of all branches. "The safety and security of all library employees and patrons is of the utmost importance," city manager Eric Batista said in a statement.
K8 News in Arkansas reports that a petition was filed to cut funding for the Lawrence County Library by half. Walnut Ridge resident Coty Powers, one of the main sponsors for this petition, said that while he supports the library, he thinks it’s time for the voters to reconsider where their tax dollars go. “The people who signed the petition, their biggest concerns was the county roads. There’s 1,200 miles of county roads in this county,” Powers said.
And finally, Kelly Jensen at Book Riot opens her weekly censorship news column with a much-needed explainer on the current wave of book bans. "Although there is a basic primer on how to fight book bans and censorship in 2024, distilled into easy-to-do, vital tasks following nearly four years of nonstop coverage on book bans, that kind of guide does not provide clear talking points for engaging in conversations about book banning with those who are unaware or completely new to the discussion," she writes. "This is that 101 guide. You can use it in conjunction with this more robust and detailed guide to the myths about book banning that keep being repeated."
The Week in Libraries is a weekly opinion and news column. News, tips, submissions, questions or comments are welcome, and can be submitted via email. Previous columns can be viewed here.
