North Dakota SB 2307 – Good Grief!

If you don’t live in North Dakota, this week’s edition of “Planting Seeds” may or may not interest you, but it should because your state could propose something just as insane!  Personally, I have a lot of opinions about politics and our current climate, but a lot of times I keep them to myself because of fear of hurting my business.  And, quite frankly, there are people out there who don’t believe it is OK to have different opinions and still coexist, so before damaging relationships I just swallow my opinions…and then take them out on my poor husband HAHA.  This one just hits a little too close to the heart to stay quiet.

Six North Dakota Senate members have introduced SB-2307 which “aims to regulate explicit sexual material in public and school libraries. The bill mandates that such materials be removed from areas accessible to minors and requires libraries to implement safety policies and technology measures to prevent minors from accessing explicit content. Non-compliance could result in the withholding of funds by the state treasurer or superintendent of public instruction.  The bill has sparked concerns among librarians and advocacy groups. Critics argue that its vague definitions could lead to censorship and disproportionately affect rural libraries lacking separate sections for different age groups. Additionally, there’s apprehension that librarians might face criminal charges for displaying materials deemed inappropriate under the proposed law.” Reference https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/69-2025/regular/bill-overview/bo2307.html?search=libraries#

Let’s read between the lines here –
1. “Materials be removed from areas accessible to minors…” – One of two things will happen here.  Libraries will build walls that allows them to separate the “explicit sexual material”, but this will limit families from browsing the library together or, much worse option, the library will close because they cannot afford to make the physical changes to meet the standards being laid out in this law.  Please tell me, do either of these options sound good?!

Worth noting, this includes technology, so minors would lose access to Libby, Overdrive, technology within the library, etc, unless of course they can find a way to censor that usage. 

2.  Secondly, this bill is very vague, there is no specification to what is considered “explicit” so who is making these decisions?  Trudy Prudy (sorry to any Trudy’s out there) can walk in and decide that “Twilight” is not appropriate for my 13-year-old daughter, report the library, and there is no criteria to decide if this complaint has merit, so now, my daughter doesn’t have access to the book + some poor librarian can face criminal charges based on the subjective opinion of someone else. Oh, please!

3.  Lastly, but really, my biggest issue with this bill, what children read is a decision to be made by parents, not by any government.  I know best what my child should and should not consume and it is up to me to make that decision.  If my kids are consuming books that they should not, it is not the librarian’s responsibility to bear, it is my issue as a parent. 

In connection to this, I would encourage you to go over to the National Assessment of Educational Progress and see the 2024 statistics on reading.  With declining scores, do we really need to be making decisions that limit kids access to reading materials.  https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reports/reading/2024/g4_8/?grade=4

If you are a North Dakota resident, please take time to reach out to your local representatives and tell them SB 2307 is a poor choice for libraries and families.