Librarians’ professional credibility and competence continues to be under attack by the State of Arkansas, now in the form of Senate Bill 184 which moves to abolish the Arkansas Educational Television Commission and the Arkansas State Library Board, and move their duties to the state Department of Education. This bill will be voted on Monday in the Senate and possibly pushed to the state House of Representatives.
Small education moment here: The State Library Board is responsible for dispersing state funding to all library systems in Arkansas. The board is a form of representative democracy where each member of the board represents different sections of the state. And for the Carroll and Madison County Library system that money pays for digital collections, ALL research databases on the system’s websites, salaries for administrative office, and community programs.
Let me be frank here, this is another attempt of the state to overstep its bounds to not only micromanage state and county libraries but also to limit access to materials. State Senator Dan Sullivan of Jonesboro, the same sponsor of Act 372 that had sections declared unconstitutional in December, is the sponsor to SB 184. Sullivan continues his attempts to silence LGBTQ+ voices in this bill by dismantling the representative democracy of the State Library Board, and instead put it beneath a singular political appointee appointed by a governor who has made it clear in her previous support of Act 372 that silencing LGBTQ+ voices is the end goal. Sullivan’s sponsorships say to dismantle representative democracy in exchange for total control beneath a political appointee who aligns with his beliefs – only those who believe the same as he does.
This troglodyte has used the term “sexually explicit” as a veil for anything that is not under the auspice of the straight man. Using children and their “protection” as a shield for bigotry, arguing that librarians are pushing a “woke agenda” in following the American Library Association’s Bill of Rights that states that access to library should “not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views” and that libraries should provide materials and information presenting “all points of view on current and historical issues.”
Moving away from what functions as representative democracy moves us closer to the possibility that library funding could be withheld as a retaliatory measure for materials that the head of the state Department of Education disagrees with. How long until they begin revising history to better suit their beliefs by limiting access to materials? Is it wrong I have little doubt they will try?
There may not be time to call your state senator by the time this is on the streets, but you can still call your state House representative to try to stop this bill from passing. Your librarians work in good faith to provide materials appropriate for the age of the reader, it’s why there is a children’s section, teen section, and general fiction section and genre breakdowns therein. If you truly believe that a book is not classified correctly, there are means to discuss with your local librarians as well as the director. We do not need the state more deeply involved in our local libraries.