ST. LOUIS–As school libraries in Missouri adjust to a new state law that sets guidelines for providing explicit materials to students, the state’s top librarian has now proposed rule changes for public libraries that would protect minors from what he calls “a pervasive culture”.

What You Need To Know

  • Proposed rule changes will be officially published next month

  • The public can comment for 30 days 

  • Secretary of State says the change "isn't about censorship"

  • Local library president says policy "doesn't leave the parent in the driver's seat"

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft says the new administrative rules would not ban material from shelves, as has happened in school districts statewide following the passage of Senate Bill 775, but would require libraries to have written, posted policies explaining how it was determined that material was age-appropriate, as well as a policy the public can follow to challenge age-appropriate designations.

Libraries would also need a posted policy to allow “any minor’s parent or guardian to determine what materials and access will be available to a minor, and no person employed by or acting on behalf of the library shall knowingly grant access to any minor any material in any form not approved by the minor’s parent or guardian.”

Under the change, libraries would not be able to hold events or presentations “without an age-appropriate designation affixed to any publication, website or advertisement for such event or presentation” and would not be able to use state funding to purchase or acquire materials in any form that appeal to the prurient interest of any minor.”

“This isn't about censorship. This is about being age appropriate and what we would suggest and have suggested is if it's something that is uncertain as to whether or not its age appropriate for a child, it's not for the librarian to give it to that child,” Ashcroft said in an interview with a Springfield radio station Monday. “If the parent wants to check that material out and say no this is right for my child because of these circumstances, that's their decision. It's time to put the power back in the hands of parents and not use our children as test subjects by individuals that might want to give them material they shouldn't have.”

Ashcroft said in the radio interview that some libraries were already taking some of these steps. A spokesman did not return a message seeking further comment Tuesday.

"The Missouri Library Association considers Secretary of State Ashcroft’s proposed rule for libraries as an infringement on the professional judgment of librarians, and an effort to further stoke division in the communities that libraries serve. Libraries support access to information and ideas. The placement of books and materials in libraries is something that should be left up to people with training and experience in the profession of librarianship," the organization's president, Claudia Young told Spectrum News late Tuesday afternoon. She added that the proposals "place undue burden on small and urban libraries by undermining not only their sense of agency but their ability to access information. The libraries who are most in need of state funding and assistance are also the most at risk under the proposed change."

The President of the Maplewood Public Library’s Board of Trustees said the rule is “bound to infuriate virtually every librarian in the state of Missouri.”

“Our policy is it’s up to the parents to decide what’s age-appropriate for their child. That’s not the library’s job,” Charlie Hinderliter told Spectrum News. Ashcroft, he said, has “couched this in terms of local control and parental responsibility but I think at the end of the day, it’s something that cuts against both of those things where it imposes new state requirements and doesn’t leave the parent in the driver’s seat.”

Patrons at Maplewood’s library can check out anything, Hinderliter said, “but it’s up to the parent to then be responsible for what they’re checking out, so if they don’t like it, they don’t get to check it out or if the kid checks it out on their own they get to return it.”

Maplewood only relies on state funding for one half of 1% of its overall budget, meaning the weight carried by potentially withholding funds wouldn’t serve as much of a deterrent there. 

“The state is trying to wield a pretty big stick with kind of a small little carrot that they actually have dangling out in front of their state libraries,” Hinderliter said.

Spectrum News also contacted the St. Louis County Public Library system, the St. Louis Public Library and the St. Charles City-County Library but did not get a response.

What’s Next?

The proposal will be published in the Missouri Register on November 15, 2022, starting a 30 day comment period. Feedback can be submitted by mail (Office of the Missouri Secretary of State, PO Box 1767, Jefferson City, MO  65102) or by email to comments@sos.mo.gov.