Criminalizing Librarianship: State Legislatures Creating Legal Jeopardies for Librarians

Abstract

US history has featured many periods of greatly enhanced efforts to ban books, such as during the Comstock era, World War I, and the McCarthy era of the 1950s. Similar to previous periods, the book banning movement that has arisen during the novel coronavirus pandemic of the 2020s has featured widespread efforts to ban many books, particularly those representing certain marginalized experiences, from schools and libraries. However, this current tidal wave of ban booking has added the new and disturbing dimension of laws being considered in state legislatures that would actually create civil and criminal penalties for librarians if banned books were available in the library. These proposed laws are part of much broader legislative efforts at the state and national levels to limit the ability of libraries to construct collections and provide services that meet the needs of their communities. Though there have been some lingering, but unfounded, concerns that librarians might be criminally liable for incorrect information in the library collection and some national security laws have created potential legal jeopardy for librarians in extremely specific circumstances, these new proposed laws are the first that would create widespread legal liabilities for librarians. This article considers the nature of these proposed laws, the larger context that has generated them, and the implications if passed into law, including the Missouri law that has gone into effect.