A House committee heard testimony Wednesday on the Freedom to Read Act (House Bill 785). The legislation is viewed as a countermeasure to efforts to remove material some feel is inappropriate for children and young teens.
The bill is inspired by the growing number of attacks on school and public library collections. The Carroll County school board recently put guidelines in place on which books can be kept in libraries and used in school curriculum.
In addition to addressing attempts to ban certain books, the legislation goes after what’s known as “shadow bans.”
“There will be a large display celebrating any number of things throughout the year. A person will come in, check out all of the books available on one given topic, take them home and keep them knowingly,” said Anne Arundel County Delegate Dana Jones, D-District 30A.
Jones, the bill’s sponsor, provided statistics compiled by the Maryland State Library Agency.
Since 2019, local libraries have seen a 133% increase in formal challenges to their collections. The agency said 53% of librarians reported they were fearful of purchasing certain books even though they believed students would benefit from them, and 52% of librarians stated book challenges have made their job more difficult.
Those opposed to the legislation pointed out that added protections are needed for children because their parents or guardians can’t be with them all the time.
“With the parents not being there, there has to be a process in place to make sure that what’s available to children is appropriate, and I think that’s the right way to handle it,” Delegate April Rose, R-District 5, representing Carroll and Frederick counties, said.
Residents consider the issue more complicated than it appears, calling it a fine line between guarding against censorship and protecting children.
The bill increases the penalty from $250 to $1,000 for a conviction of unlawfully taking, damaging or destroying library material.
The bill has strong support in the Senate. A hearing is set for Friday.
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