An Idaho Library Goes “Adults Only”
metroweekly.comlibrary porn law,” signed by Republican Gov. Brad Little earlier this year.Under the harsh new law, Idaho libraries can be sued if they do not prevent minors from accessing “obscene” or sexually explicit material.If a complaint is filed regarding a book, libraries must relocate it to the adult section.
If they fail to do so within 30 days, they can be sued for noncompliance.There is a cap on statutory damages of $250 per incident.But, libraries can subsequently be sued for thousands (or even millions) of dollars in uncapped “actual damages” for any alleged emotional harm caused to children should a judge or jury find that the challenged works contain gratuitous sexual content, or lack “literary, scientific, artistic, or political value” for minors.Conservative lawmakers and the right-wing Idaho Family Policy Center have championed the law, proclaiming it protects children from age-inappropriate content without explicitly banning any books or materials.However, the law does not account for the difficulty of relocating books in libraries with tiny physical footprints.One example is the Donnelly Public Library in rural Valley County, which will no longer permit minors unaccompanied by an adult on its premises. “Our size prohibits us from separating our ‘grown up’ books to be out of the accessible range of children,” the library said in a statement.The facility’s total area is only 1,024 square feet.Starting on July 1, children under 18 will not be permitted inside, even to use the bathroom, without a parental companion.There is an exception for children who participate in the library’s paid programming, but they must have their parents sign a waiver to allow them to access the library’s 13,000-book collection.The library’s.
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