An Idaho Library Goes “Adults Only”
Donnelly Public Library will no longer admit children under 18 to comply with the state's harsh new "library porn" law.
A rural public library in Idaho will no longer allow minors to enter its premises.
The rule is designed to comply with the state’s “library 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 director, Sherry Scheline, compared the new admission policy to one instituted by a liquor store.
“Your kid could even give you suggestions at the liquor store, but your kid cannot take anything off the shelf at the liquor store,” she said.
While Scheline regrets the policy, the small, rural western Idaho library doesn’t have the financial resources to defend itself from litigious parents who may use the law to demand removals of books to which they object.
According to the Idaho Commission for Libraries, Donnelly Public Library is the first to institute an 18-and-over admission policy. But other understaffed or underfunded venues will likely follow suit.
As noted by Boise State Public Radio, many of the books that conservatives claim are problematic, harmful, or constitute “pornography” are those with LGBTQ characters and themes, as well as books dealing with human sexuality or sex education.
Donnelly Public Library is hoping to expand its physical footprint and have separate sections of the building dedicated to youth or adult content. This would allow the library to scuttle the “adults-only” policy while still maintaining compliance with the law.
However, the proposed expansion would cost the library $1.5 million. According to Scheline, the library is currently $630,000 short of that goal.
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