MY TURN: CLN materials policies follow Idaho law
Plass
Recently, the Community Library Network (CLN) board of trustees was asked to answer questions about books under review by CLN staff. My response:
In response to your email below, I believe the library director and staff are following the CLN "Materials Withdrawal and Reconsideration Policy," both the June 2024 version and the December 2025 revision. Both versions include the same text:
"CLN shall not promote, give or make available material harmful to minors to any minor. The library shall take reasonable steps to restrict access by minors to materials as defined in Idaho Codes 18-1513, 18-1514, 18-1515 and 18-1517B. Materials harmful to minors shall be relocated to the Mature Content Collection." (December 2025)
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The new ID Statute 18-1517B specifically instructs "... relocate the material harmful to minors to an area with adult access only." The CLN Material Withdrawal and Relocation Policy has been compliant with that specific sentence … updated (Dec 2025) to "Mature Content Collection" after the Mature Content Collection Policy was created and defined as an "adult-access-only" location.
The CLN library director and staff are following the current CLN policy, which makes it clear that the library (staff) has a duty to relocate the "material harmful to minors" to an adult-access-only location. In addition, the policy provides patrons with a form and procedure to request relocation of materials. It is abundantly clear in the CLN policy that the relocation request process is not the only way to initiate relocation; it is an avenue available to patrons if they encounter overlooked material, and staff have the primary obligation to keep harmful materials out of areas accessible to minors.
The answers to your questions are in the policy paragraph I quoted above. The CLN staff is obligated to relocate material harmful to minors if found in areas accessible to minors; no request is required, and they should not wait for a relocation request if such a situation is encountered. The evaluation criteria are delineated in ID Statutes 18-1513, 1514, 1515, and 1517B, as indicated in the Materials Withdrawal and Reconsideration Policy. This policy does not specify the maximum duration allowed for the staff to relocate material. Since the Mature Content Collection and the Collection Development Manager position are relatively new, and the labels and process need to be created, the initial relocations are taking longer. However, the library board (and public) is advised on the status and availability of these materials during our regular monthly board meetings.
These Idaho statutes can be found at https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/Title18/T18CH15/SECT18-1517B/ A detailed list of materials considered “harmful to minors” is found in 18-1517B(2)(a) and (b). Note that there is another section (c), “Any other material harmful to minors,” to cover other harmful items. I think we can all agree that material with topics such as “How to Commit Suicide … Murder … Become a Sexual Predator … Make a Nuclear Bomb” would certainly fall under section (c) since they are all behaviors prohibited by Idaho law. All harmful material should be removed by CLN staff if found in the CLN minor areas, per section (c).
Likewise, the CLN “Materials Selection and Acquisition Policy” prohibits acquisition of material with subject matter “… that are illegal in the State of Idaho including, but not limited, to abortion, sexual assault, polygamy, suicide, and illicit drug use.” Recent warnings received from the “Freedom to Read Foundation” that this policy is “… placing the discernment about library content selection in the hands of trustees …” are baseless, considering the policy directs CLN staff not to purchase material with illegal subject matter. This organization seems to be writing without reading the CLN policy.
I am confident that the citizens of Kootenai County have found these new common-sense policies helpful in reestablishing wholesome CLN libraries for our families.
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Tim Plass is a member of the Community Library Network board of trustees.