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Hoosier librarian concerned SB12 would have major impact on how they do their jobs

The proposal would end protections for school librarians' legal defense if they were accused of providing material harmful to minors.

INDIANAPOLIS — "We should not face criminal prosecution and potential jail time because we are just doing our jobs," school librarian Chad Heck said of jobs that he believes could be disrupted if Senate Bill 12 passes.

The proposed bill would end protections for school librarians' legal defense if they were accused of providing material harmful to minors.

"This bill impacts books with sexual content in them. We really worry about LGBTQ populations being impacted and their representation because that population is defined by their sexual identity," Heck said.

Heck, with the Indiana Library Federation, said this bill could have a major impact on how they do their jobs.

"The bigger impact of this bill is that librarians will stop collecting materials that don't meet the definition in this bill because they're worried about being prosecuted — books that our kids really need access to. Sex ed materials, for example," Heck said.

Sen. James Tomes (R-District 49) authored the bill. He said he wrote the bill after being approached by parents concerned about books he said contained "obscene pornographic material no child should have access to." He believes it puts the power back into the parents' hands.

"This allows for the parents that can immediately react to the school board and the educational system right away if their child comes up with one of these books," Tomes said.

Heck suggests parents simply talk with their children instead of targeting librarians.

"If you don't like a book in the library, tell your child not to read it. That's a family decision. We support family decisions. We believe parents should be involved in the reading life of their children," Heck said.

However, Heck said there is one part of the bill he does support.

"We do support part of the bill that allows a community member to express their concerns, and if they want to challenge material in the library, there's a process for that, and we support that process," Heck said.

He believes every community should have a process to challenge books, but those decisions should be made at the community level rather than the statehouse.

"Libraries need to represent everybody. We can't just take out information just because some communities don't like it," Heck said.

Tomes sent the following statement to 13News when asked for more information about the bill:

“About four years ago, I was approached by concerned parents who showed me a series of books they discovered were readily available to their children in school and public libraries. These books contain obscene, pornographic material no child should be exposed to.

Senate Bill 12 is a bill that addresses this issue in a simple way, striking the word 'educational' out of our current statute and taking away the excuse that these books hold any educational value if a school decides to make them available in their library.

It is important to understand that this bill does not ban or censor any books - only removes the 'educational' defense a library can use if the presence of an inappropriate book accessible to children comes into question. Legitimate literary works, books and novels are not affected.

This legislation also only applies to K-12 libraries, and doesn't include colleges or universities.

It is stunning to me that anyone wouldn't want to protect our children from the harmful material I saw within these books. This bill is important, and I will continue to advocate for its passage into law."

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