Two pieces of legislation introduced in the Iowa Legislature would give people more freedom on what they might deem as “obscene material” in libraries and educational institutions.
House File 274 would repeal the Iowa Code that exempts educational institutions and libraries from obscenity laws. Hampton Library Director, Suzy Knipfel, tells RadioOnTheGo News the language in House File 274 leaves a lot of questions for libraries if it becomes law.
“It remains very, very vague. It does not give libraries any direction to go. There is no guidance at this point. The main premise of it is obscenity-related materials. And the word obscenity or obscene is a very vague, subjective term. So what I may feel is very obscene. You may feel is fine. So having such a subjective area to base, for instance, library books, library materials, magazines. It’s real concerning because if this bill does go through, public libraries have zero guidance on how we will process this.”
Senate File 347 would prohibit “a city library board, a library district or librarian from selecting or making purchases of any materials with descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act as defined in Code section 702.17 for the public library.” The bill states there could be penalties filed against a city that “employs a librarian that knowingly provides obscene material to a minor in a public library.” Knipfel says SF 347 is a threat to all libraries.
“The file does state they can file lawsuits, libraries and communities will be fined. But here again, it’s a lot bigger bill and tells me a lot more about what they would do, which in itself is alarming because if we get to this point, well, we don’t know from the first bill what we would get rid of. So, you know, it goes back to, you know, what’s obscene to one person is not obscene to somebody else, but it really censors everybody’s ability.”
RadioOnTheGo News has reached out to two state legislators regarding these bills but has yet to receive a response.
Pictured: The Hampton Library Board during their meeting on February 19th.
