Richland Library could lose $1M yearly, small libraries ‘devastated’ if SC passes amendment
A state budget amendment that one senator equated to “censorship” will take away $1 million yearly from Richland Library and “devastate” small and rural county libraries, the library said.
“We have seen the increase in attempts to censor what materials families and their children have access to rising in the past months,” Richland Library Executive Director Melanie Huggins said in an statement Friday. “While they have mostly been targeted at schools and school libraries, yesterday a budget amendment was passed that would deny SC public libraries state funding.”
“This amendment will devastate small and rural counties who rely on this funding for basic operations,” Huggins said.
Richland Library spokesperson Anika Thomas cast the amendment as too vague for compliance, saying that it will take away books and services from families, children and adults.
“It’s important for us to work with parents to recommend books, movies and services that align with their families,” Thomas said. “We don’t have to do that by excluding things in totality or by taking things off the shelf.”
“What is good for my family may or may not be good for yours,” she said.
The budget amendment would require county libraries to certify that they “do not offer any books or materials that appeal to the prurient interest of children under the age of thirteen in children’s book sections of libraries and are only made available with explicit parental consent.”
If a library were found to not be in compliance, it could risk losing state funding.
The budget amendment passed in the Senate. The amendment would have to get the approval of the House of Representatives and the governor to go into effect.
Sen. Josh Kimbrell, R-Spartanburg, sponsored the amendment. In debate on Tuesday, he said, “My point is to not put pornographic material in the hands of kids.”
Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said the amendment would punish libraries for having classic literature like “The Scarlet Letter,” a 19th century novel dealing with adultery that’s seen as a hallmark of the literary style of the United States at the time and frequently read by high school classes.
“I can’t believe that this Senate is thinking about going on record in favor of censorship,” Hutto said. “This amendment is broad enough to ban the Bible.”
Taking materials and services out of libraries amounts to “infringing on the rights of others” and will “alienate” some families and children, Thomas said
“We believe that parents have the right on how their children navigate the library,” she said.
If parents don’t want their children reading about trucks, they can work with an educated and experienced librarian to find them books about planes, trains and cars, Thomas said as an example of how libraries can provide materials to certain families while not alienating others.
Libraries already have policies and procedures in place to keep pornography off shelves, so “there’s no need for the state to come in and create policies that already exist,” Thomas said.
While the amendment is focused on books, the financial hit would affect more than material on shelves.
Richland Library is a national award-winning organization because of all the other services it provides beyond loaning books, Thomas said. Those services include a program to earn a high school diploma, reading help for dyslexic children, helping finding jobs, health services and much more.
All those services are put in jeopardy if the budget amendment passes, Thomas said.