Starting in May, every library in Missouri that receives funds from the Secretary of State's office will be required to have a written and accessible public policy on how they get new materials and ensure that they're age-appropriate.
"It's gonna forbid them from using any state or federal funding that they get from my office on books that would kind of appeal to the prurient, the obscene the pornographic, for minors," said Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft.
Additionally, he said, any event held at libraries would have age guidelines.
In addition to those changes, parents will be able to have a say in what their kids are allowed to check out at the library.
"We wanted to have that written, publicly accessible challenge procedure," Ashcroft said. "So any parent could say, 'Wait a minute, I don't think this is the right book to have at this section of the library, I think it needs to be moved,' and that the library would have a process that everyone would know about to decide whether or not that was a valid concern or not, and then would have to publicly disclose the outcome of that policy."
Ashcroft added, "We just want to make sure that parents, taxpayers, they're in charge of what's happening at the library so that our libraries continue to grow and be a vibrant part of our community."
The issue of inappropriate content has been a hot button one for the last few months, with Missouri librarians and the ACLU currently suing the state over a law that bans sexually explicit books in classrooms.
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