Should a child in a public library be safer, or less safe, from obscene materials than they are in a public square?
Common sense seems to say the library should be a sanctuary. But under current Iowa law, the opposite is true: children are actually less protected inside a library than they are in other public arenas.
FACT: Iowa Code forbids obscenity in public, but it also exempts libraries from that same prohibition — Iowa Code 728.7.
The Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition contends that public decency should be a given in government-run, taxpayer-funded institutions. Indecency should be off-limits within Iowa’s accredited schools and libraries. Further, custodians of these public spaces should not be legally exempt from the standards of decency the rest of us are required to follow. If anything, they should be specifically compelled to a higher standard — not a lower one.
In short: The No. 1 priority of a public library should be to provide a safe space where parents don’t have to shield the eyes, ears, and minds of their children — every other worthy objective should come in a distant second place.
Two bills that would have cured this issue died at the funnel, but HF 2622 survived, and it has real teeth. Among other things, this legislation requires the following:
1. Prohibits public money from being used to fund a library that violates the age-appropriate standards described in the bill, such as materials with descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act.
2. Gives parents the right to monitor their own kid’s library records — right now they do not have this right.
3. Shifts oversight of public libraries from a city’s unelected/appointed library board of trustees to the jurisdiction’s governing body — generally these are elected city council members.
4. Obligates the library’s governing body to protect kids from access to materials that are not age-appropriate.
Much more on this issue in the weeks to come — something must be done. …
