LIBRARY LAW: Long anticipated and much needed

Encountering people and especially bureaucracies that are proactive is a rarity — which makes the few who are so valuable. For most people, doing the least we can “get away with” is usually the default. By contrast, the businesses, friends or family who delight us by going the extra mile, anticipating our needs and most significantly, taking action accordingly, differentiates those as truly exceptional. 

The new Children’s School and Library Protection Act went into effect on July 1. The minimum requirement of the new law is for libraries to create a Request for Relocation form and incorporate it into their policy. However, the intention of the law is to move adult content — of which there is a shocking abundance — out of the section for minors and categorize it as Adult. Our “professionally trained” library staff has software and numerous online resources to proactively evaluate the collection for minors. Form submissions by the public should be for materials that were missed by the staff. Paid staff have both the explicit (pun intended) specifications identified in the law regarding what qualifies as Adult and the responsibility to ensure their minors’ sections are free of harmful material.  

Yet, at the June 27 Cd’A library board meeting, the trustees settled on a “wait and see” strategy. Despite being informed numerous times about the abundance of qualifying titles available at CleanBooks4Kids.com, the trustees are sitting on their hands. Alas, the mediocrity and complacency of bureaucracy prevails. Is this what Cd’A taxpayers are willing to accept? 

MARIANNA COCHRAN 

Rathdrum